Government, ACCA partner to improve accounting standards in governance

Determined to improve the nation’s accounting standards across Ministries, Departments and Agencies [MDAs] of government, the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has entered into partnership with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants [ACCA] to train more staff on such standards.

Some of the standards include the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), Treasury Single Accounts, Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.

Already, no less than 16 staff in the office of the Accountant General that have been trained and passed, received IPSAS certification from ACCA in Abuja.

Both parties have also agreed to train more staff on current world accounting standards. In his remarks, the Accountant- General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, said that training accounting officers especially, in his office, will further boost accounting standards across MDAs because the development of human capacity or assets are key for overall development of an organization or government.

He stressed: ‘’I would like ACCA to come up with more training programmes to further improve our staff capacity for promotion of better accounting standards in Nigeria.’.

Responding, the ACCA Nigeria Country Head, Tom Isibor, said after the conduct of normal training and rigorous examinations, 16 out of 20 staff from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation passed and have now received IPSAS certification.

“These is significant because they are now very qualified to practice as account professionals across the globe.” Recall that the government in July 2010, adopted the International Accounting Standard for Nigerians; IPSAS has already set the standard for accounting practice all over the globe more so that it is now a global movement”, he added.