New accounting bill will send members to jail � ICAN
Everest Amaefule, Abuja
Confidence in the Nigerian economy would be eroded should the National Assembly go ahead to pass into an Act of the Parliament a bill seeking to establish an Institute of Certified Public Accountants in the country.
This is the verdict of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria as presented by its Vice President, Chief Lateef Oweyemi.
Speaking to newsmen ahead of the Public Hearing on the bill conducted by the Joint Accounts Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday, Oweyemi painted a gory picture of the consequences of passing the bill into law.
According to him, members of the accountancy profession who have been recognised by ICAN of more than 40 years would become illegal practitioners should they refuse to register with the new accounting body that the bill seeks to establish.
The implication of this is that ICAN members would be thrown into jail, the Vice President of the Institute explained.
Oweyemi who was accompanied to the news briefing by ICAN Council members and other top members of the accountancy profession said the harvest of fruits from a multiplicity of accounting regulatory bodies would taste bitter in the mouth of the country.
�The problem of multiple accounting bodies is that financial figures from this country would hardly be relied upon. The country would be the looser if we play with the accountancy profession.
�ICAN is not afraid of anybody. We have been around for 40 years. We have conducted more than 70 examinations and none has ever leaked,� Oweyemi said.
The ICAN boss faulted the Body of Regents which the new bill also seeks to establish for the accountancy profession.
According to him, the new bill wants to impose Body of Regents on the Council of ICAN. This would not only infringe on the functions of the profession but also bring the profession to ridicule. Unlike the ICAN Council which is elected for a specific period of time, the Body of Regents would not be elected and members hold office for life.
He said previous public hearing on the new bill revealed that ICPAN has poor abysmal training record while the members have never been instrumental to blowing whistle on any fraud.
�The Certified Public Accountants of the United States which ICPAN said they have been affiliated to for 15 years have written to disown the organisation. So why do we want to confer legality on such a fraudulent body,� he queried.
He also queried why the new accounting body wants to begin life by getting a charter from the National Assembly.
�You don�t get a charter as a starting point; you get charter as a crowning point. Conferring charter on IPCAN would cheapen the National Assembly, the accountancy profession and Nigeria as a whole,� he added.
