Lauriston F. Wilson, Jr
When Lauriston F. Wilson blew the whistle on an offshore bank operating in March 1999, it helped to prompt the complete revamping and reorganisation of Grenada's offshore financial services sector. The incident remains the most memorable part of his career of nearly 50 years of accounting in the public sector and public practice.
Throughout his illustrious career in accounting and finance in both the public sector and public practice, his dedication to upholding the integrity of the accountancy profession has never faltered.
Starting off as a clerk with the Grenadian Treasury in 1955, he steadily progressed through a number of departments. In 1970 he became Cost Accountant/Budget Officer at the Ministry of Finance until 1974, when he took over as Permanent Secretary, advancing to Director General in 1982.
In 1992 Lauriston started his own accountancy firm, Wilson & Co., Chartered Accountants. In that same year, he assisted in establishing PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chartered Accountants, in Grenada which he managed until 1996.
His personal goals involve branching out into accounting journalism, writing memoirs of his experiences in the public sector and public practice, and the expansion of his firm into international markets.
And future goals for the profession?
"I look forward to the continued development of International Financial Reporting Standards, aimed at promoting full disclosure in the financial statements of all organisations in the private sector and public sector, with a view to ensuring that their respective internal controls and accounting systems are properly instituted to produce reliable, auditable accounts."
"Additionally, in the wake of the recent financial scandals in the USA and Europe, I strongly feel that the profession must ensure high standards of transparency, honesty, integrity and solidarity on the part of all professional accountants, including the supervisory and regulatory bodies, so that whistleblowing will no longer be stigmatised, and financial wrong-doing will not be suppressed, but exposed and punished."
"Finally, it is my fervent wish that the accounting profession becomes universally unified in terms of examination, qualification, standards and regulation, under one global body on or before 2104."