Accounting firms have been urged to be vigilant when auditing books for businesses as they have a huge responsibility to get it right.

Past president of the Fiji Institute of Accountants, Nouzab Fareed says some businesses try and evade their tax payments.

Fareed says accountants are the first auditors to check a business’s finance before the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service.

Hence, he adds it is important they carry out their work unbiasedly and refrain from indulging in any illegal activities.

“Accountants have a big role to play, especially independent accounting firms. They need to do their jobs right so that no company can escape their tax payments. It is also the job of the tax agents to monitor the books. These are the two actual important people who can help us to pin down those who are trying to evade taxes. Of course the other thing is the attitude of the people.”

Fareed says accountants and tax agents have the ability to expose these unethical practices and they need to step up.

This call by the FIA, is in light of the increased number of prominent businesses caught manipulating customs duty values in order to avoid tax payments.

Revenue and Customs has confirmed tax fraud figures are running in millions for this year so far.