The foremost accountancy body in Nigeria, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, has condemned in strong terms the proposed bill seeking to establish the Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria and Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria.
The 53rd President of the institute, Is’maila Zakari, spoke at the induction of 99 new candidates that qualified for certification in three of its seven faculties.
The three faculties are: Audit, Investigations and Forensic Accounting; Financial Reporting and Insolvency; and Corporate Re-engineering.
According to Zakari, the move is a threat and an intention to bastardise the accountancy profession, adding that ICAN is positioned to war against such attempt.
He further explained that he was invited by the National Assembly recently to make a presentation on a bill seeking to establish the Act.
“I led a delegation to the National Assembly, particularly to the Senate, to condemn the bill in strong terms. But just last week, our liaison person from the National Assembly notified us that the same bill was read in the House of Representatives,” Zakari said.
The ICAN president said the institute’s investigation had revealed that the motive behind the proposed institute was for money making.
The top accountant said although the sponsors of the bill argued that Forensic Accounting was a different profession, the subject matter had always been part of the ICAN knowledge area.
“Today, 99 candidates passed the rigorous qualifying courses characterising our faculty examination; 47 of them would be admitted as Certified Forensic Accountants of Nigeria to bring the total number of specialists in this field to 478,” Zakari stated.
He, however, admonished the newly certified members of the three faculties to be professional in their conduct.
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