ICAJ Pays Tribute To The Late Hon. Alfred Rattray

The Accountancy profession feels a great sense of loss at the passing, on March 20, 2005, of Ambassador, the Honourable Alfred Rattray, OJ, LLB, FCA, ACIS -- a Jamaican stalwart and pioneer in the field of accountancy and a leader in the legal profession, international affairs, diplomacy and the public service.

We pay tribute to this incisive and insightful thinking, his legal and accounting astuteness, his creativity, his sense of justice and concern for the common good, as well as his love of his country, his commitment to humanity and his service to society.

We hail him as an architect of the Public Accountancy Act of 1968, which gave legal status to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica as a regulatory entity for the practice of accountancy in Jamaica.

It was the late Alfred Rattray, then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, in his capacities as Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-law, who reviewed the Draft Bill for the Public Accountancy Act along with similar submissions that had been invited from the various accountancy bodies in existence at the time. Through his instrumentality, the draft proposals were used to create the Public Accountancy Act, substantially as it exists today.

During his distinguished career he remained committed to serving the Institute as a legal advisor and represented the interest of the accountancy profession during his tenure as Senator from 1989 to 2002.

He is also credited with being a pioneer in the creation of a regional accountancy body to represent the interest of accountants in the Caribbean. It was Mr. Ratttray, along with Bryn Pollard, Caricom's Attorney-at-Law, who was instrumental in finalising the Memorandum and Articles of Association for the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) in 1988.

During 1989 and 1990, Mr. Rattray also served as Chairman of the Panel of Assessors, drawn from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and the Caribbean, to determine the comparability of examination and entry requirements into the profession worldwide. He continued to make an invaluable contribution to the regional profession as Chairman of the Panel of Advisors to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean.

The ICAJ extends deepest condolences to the Rattray family - his wife, Cynthia and daughter, Cathy, relatives and friends - during this difficult time.

We mourn the loss of a truly great Jamaican whose outstanding contribution to the development of the accountancy profession in Jamaica and the Caribbean will always be remembered.



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