to start worrying about an accountant spending it on my behalf! we have just witnessed the awarding of certificates to those who have passed their “ final qualifying exams ” ( or fqes ). and, later on this evening, we will also witness the induction of new members into the samoa institute of accountants. on behalf of everyone here tonight, i wish to congratulate all of you on the achievement of these important milestones in your education and career lives. you have continued to make your families both proud and happy. but, i caution you, this is only the first step in your careers as accountants. remember, “ it is not what you learned, but how you use what you learned, that counts ”. i came across a definition of an accountant the other day. it said, “ an accountant is someone who solves a problem that you did not know you had, in a way that you don ’ t understand ”! i hope that tonight ’ s graduates do not end up being one of these accountants, who creates a problem first and then pretends to solve it. and, worse still, they end up charging the client for something that was not there in the first place! it ’ s almost like being a lawyer! the recent global financial crisis started from a liquidity shortfall in the united states. this liquidity shortfall resulted from many loans ( especially for housing ) going into default, and there were insufficient assets to cover these loans. as a result, many large banks and financial institutions went bankrupt. and, if it were not for the quick and substantial intervention by some major governments and central banks, the global economy would have collapsed. among others, the accountants have been blamed for the “ financial crisis ”, as a result of their “ creative accounting ” techniques, which contributed to inflating the values of the assets which were used as collateral for the many risky loans that were issued. as well, the ability of many accountants to hide a substantial volume of very large transactions “ off the balance sheet ”, contributed to the demise of many of these large financial institutions. i mention this to highlight the critical roles that accountants can play in maintaining financial stability in national economies and thereby the global economy as a whole. the stable economic environment that samoa has enjoyed over the past many years is also partly due to the responsible way that the members of the samoa institute of accountants have carried out their duties. and, i commend and thank you all for that. let me

maiava atalina ainuu enari : educating children about money matters opening remarks by ms maiava atalina ainuu enari, governor of the central bank of samoa, at the awards ceremony of the “ be money wi $ e ” financial literacy poster competition 2014, apia, 14 march 2014. * * * greetings and welcome to you all, dear parents, school principals and most importantly the winning students of the 2014 be money wi $ e poster competition. as i look across the room to the students, parents and principals / school reps,... without a doubt this is a happy friday for you all. it gives me great pleasure to say that, this is also a happy friday for us at the central bank – we are as much excited to reveal the winning poster entries as you are to be here today to receive your awards!! talofa! talofa lava ; i am delighted to be here today, at the conclusion of an important initiative for the central bank, to address this gathering and most especially the winners of – our first be money wise financial literacy poster competition. this competition is one of many programs undertaken by the central bank to perform one of its mandates of promoting financial literacy under the “ financial fitness ” or “ fit for finance ” campaign. the “ be money wi $ e poster competition 2014 ” was also conducted in collaboration with the global money week which is coordinated by child & youth finance international. global money week takes place on the 10 – 17 march and is a worldwide celebration through events and activities to help empower children and youth to be confident and responsible economic citizens. during this week, children are encouraged to engage in learning on how money works, including saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment and entrepreneurship as well as living financially smart lives. and so for samoa ’ s contribution to the event, the central bank decided to conduct a financial literacy poster competition to encourage kids to use their imaginations and knowledge about money choices, and help provide a creative outlet to demonstrate their knowledge. for this year ’ s poster competition theme “ i can grow my money by... ” myself and mrs vicseta meredith of business system limited had the pleasure and the hard task of judging the entries. we were very impressed with the quality of entries that were presented to us – so it pains us that there are only a limited number of awards we can give out for the competition. “ financial literacy ” or “ the set of skills and knowledge that