Accountants to partner FG on national values, economic priorities

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The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), has promised to partner with the Federal Government in redefining national values, economic priorities, and resource utilisation strategies such that the mass of the citizens can be lifted out of poverty.

The newly elected 56th president of ICAN, Mrs. Onome Joy Adewuyi said this during her investiture held virtually in Lagos.

She said ICAN would leverage its professional expertise to support players in the informal sector, whose unsung value-creating activities will define the position of the nation on the ladder of sustainable development.

She lamented the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty being experienced by Nigeria, adding that the nation is at a point in its economic development where all hands must be on deck to address the ugly situation.

Adewuyi lamented the 2019 World Bank Human Development Report, in which 53.5 per cent of Nigerians were identified to live below poverty line of $1.9 a day.

The situation, she said is even worse considering the high rate of crime and criminality all over the country and the cognizance of the possible effect of COVID-19 in the near term.

She assured that as the Institute would strive to hold leaders at all levels accountable, it would also enforce compliance to the professional code of ethics and sanction all proven cases of misdemeanor by members without fear or favour.

She posited that the task of nation building is a collective responsibility, adding that ICAN as a critical stakeholders would continue to ensure that the nation improve through formulation and implementation of strategic policies.

The ICAN’s president explained that the Institute would formalise its online training and incorporate them into the annual training brochure adding that the Members’ education and training would be bolstered with cut-edge virtual training.

“These would run together with the established traditional model of delivering trainings. Also, the ICAN faculties would be equipped to become centres of excellence for virtual training in the seven specialist areas of Accounting. The lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged ICAN to redefine the values it shares, the way it relates and account for its actions and inactions. Evidently, the proactive deployment and proficiency in the use of technology will continue to define corporate and individual success. This emerging paradigm has implications for how we relate and bond as professionals who share a common vision of working together to build a great nation with a sustainable economy driven by strong institutions.”

Adewuyi explained that with the drastic changing dynamics in the market, ICAN would expand its collaborative horizons to bring on board non-traditional partners, especially the tech companies that would work with the Institute on the gradual incorporation of emerging technologies, such as Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

She also disclosed that ICAN would make efforts to take its Accounting Technician Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) examinations to other African countries which need the middle level accountancy support, adding that ICAN would maintain excellent working relationships with regulatory authorities like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency International (NEITI), National Insurance Commission of Nigeria (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

Joy Adewuyi graduated with a BSc degree (Second Class Honours Upper Division) in Accounting from the University of Benin in 1982 and MSc in Banking and Finance from the University of Lagos in 1993. She is an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Boston Massachusetts USA; the Wharton Business School of Pennsylvania, USA and the Kellogg Business School, Chicago USA. She is also an Alumnus of the International Banking Summer School, USA and the Lagos Business School.