ICAN President: We Don’t Need to Be Economist to See Dangers in Pilling Up Public Debts

•Says Nigerian accountants need massive mindset change

Dike Onwuamaeze

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, has warned against Nigeria’s propensity to accumulate public debts, even as he urged the federal government to unlock the vast resources of country’s economy in order to generate revenue.

Okwuosa gave this warning yesterday in Lagos, during his interactive session with select group of journalists where he said: “I do not think that we need to be economists to see the dangers in pilling up debts for the citizens.

“Speaking in my personal capacity, I believe that some of the loans taken by the government are not necessary. Those funds could have been sourced internally by opening up other aspects of the economy.

“We have vast and untapped resources. Why will the government not exploit the vast mass resources that we have in this country, rather than taking the easy approach of taking loans? Can we not engage our scientists and engineers to go to work?”

He said, “something must be done to create an enabling environment that will unleash the human capital that we have in this country. I think this is what we need to do rather than borrowing and increasing our debt. Let us unleash the human capital that we have in this country and there will be no need to borrow.”

Okwuosa also stated that his presidential year at ICAN would usher in series of reforms that would equip Nigerian chartered accountants to adapt to emerging technological trends reshaping the practice of accounting profession.

According to him, “the state of the profession is such that chartered accountants are expected to operate in a digital world. We have been talking about accountants getting technologically involved in what they do and using technology to enhance their practice.

“But there are no concrete actions as regards how these will be done. The enabling environment that this required is not there. We intend to bring reforms that would practically equip our members to be able to employ technology to operate.

“Secondly, accounting has changed in terms of what the business community and the world expects accountants to do. The traditional accountant is trained to operate with the mindset that profit maximisation is the goal of corporations. They work by cutting costs to increase profit.

“But we have gotten to a point where we are now talking about people, planet and profit. We factor in people, the planet and the environment into business operations and do not talk profit in isolation but within the context of people and the planet.

“This leads to a wider issue of sustainability that is now pervading the accounting profession. Today we are talking about climate change and energy transition and accountants have to be at the fore front of this. Accountants need to acquire sustainability skills.

“The Nigerian accountant will have to be repositioned for a whole massive mindset change will have to take place for the accountant to take on the new role. This is about the little reforms and the innovation that we are going to bring in in this presidential year.”

He also identified the proliferation of professional bodies in the country as one of the major challenges diminishing the practice of accounting profession in Nigeria.

He said: “The challenge of accounting profession in Nigeria is traceable to the proliferation of the accounting profession, which opens doors for quacks to come in. And when quacks come into the profession they will accept anything.”

Okwuosa emphasised that ICAN members have been practicing accounting in all its ramifications since its inception in 1965.

“There were no limits on what the chartered accountant can do in terms of practice, which included taxation, forensic, etc. But what that has happened now is that you see individuals coming up with one branch of accounting and turning it into a professional body. “This is not peculiar to the Nigerian environment. But what is wrong with this proliferation is a clause usually inserted by these new bodies that criminalises those that are already into this practice by saying that you can no longer do that,” he added.

According to him, “if we are placed in a situation where we practice less than our peers in other countries then our profession is being diminished.

“And that is what this country must avoid. Because we have contemporaries internationally and if they get to know that we are practicing less, then we will be diminishing accounting profession in Nigeria. And I am sure that is not the intention of the National Assembly.”

Okwuosa also said steps so far taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, especially the unification of the foreign exchange market, were in the right direction.

He said: “The issue of foreign exchange cannot be viewed in isolation. But we will say that government is in the right direction on that because the gap between the official and unofficial rates is a distortion within the economy that every responsible government must work to close.

“To that extent we support the policy of the government in that direction. But there is a need for palliatives that will make the poor income earners not to suffer from such effects.”