The Tribune

The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) has re-elected Jasmine Y. Davis as its president. She is the first female BICA president to be elected to serve for a second term.

Ms Davis has been credited with some key initiatives that will impact the accounting profession positively over the coming years, as the Bahamas moves closer to accession to full World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership, finalising its services schedule under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), and implementation of Value-Added Tax (VAT).

During her first term, a robust Practice Monitoring Program was implemented in the Bahamas. This is a requirement of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) for BICA to be compliant with international standards, and the Bahamas to remain competitive in the region.

This has led to the lifting of the IFAC suspension of BICA, and she has been directly involved with re-drafting the Public Accountants Act 1991.

Ms Davis previously served as chair of the ICAC Conference Committee held in the Bahamas in 2010. She joined the BICA Council in June 2010, and served as chair of the events, fundraising and charities committee and the assistant secretary.

Ms Davis became president of BICA in June 2012, and serves as alternate director on the Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC), plus the Regional Monitoring Unit Committee.

She also represents the profession on the Government’s Central Revenue Agency (CRA) steering committee and the Bahamas Trade Commission’s sub-committee for the financial services sector.

Ms Davis entered the accounting profession in 1998, and received her training at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She later joined a leading medical facility in Grand Bahama as the financial controller, and is now vice-president of patient finance at Doctors Hospital.