BANK OF GHANA REVOKES LICENCES OF FIVE BANKS AND APPOINTS A RECEIVER IN RESPECT OF THEIR ASSETS AND LIABILITIES (Extracts) A few years ago, the Bank of Ghana revoked the licences of uniBank Ghana Limited, The Royal Bank Limited, Beige Bank Limited, Sovereign Bank Limited, and Construction Bank Limited and appointed Mr. Nii Amanor Dodoo of KPMG as the Receiver for the five banks. In August 2017, the Bank of Ghana also closed two banks (UT Bank and Capital Bank) and approved the acquisition by GCB Bank of some of their assets and liabilities under a Purchase and Assumption Agreement. Other banks that were more recently licensed in 2016 and commenced operations in 2017 also began to show signs of distress, primarily due to conditions under which they obtained their licences. Beige Bank and Construction Bank were each granted provisional licences in 2016 and launched in 2017. Subsequent investigations conducted by the Bank of Ghana, revealed that similar to the case of Sovereign Bank, both banks obtained their banking licences under false pretences through the use of suspicious and non-existent capital, which has resulted in a situation where their reported capital is inaccessible to them for their operations. In a recent discussion at the Office of the President, the cabinet has questioned the essence of financial reporting regulation, particularly citing the ability of the banks to present non-existent capital as a basis for obtaining banking licenses. The President has called on the Accounting Department of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAG) to a meeting to discuss the future of accounting regulation in Ghana. Required You have been identified as one of the department's best Post Graduate students and will be making a presentation to the Cabinet on behalf of the Head of Department. In your presentation you are expected to enlighten the members on the pros and cons of deregulating the accounting profession in Ghana.