Consistent with the new focus and language of business, the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) recently entered into partnership aimed to share values, professional expertise and to create new business leaders.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to that effect was signed in Lagos recently with officials of the two professional bodies underscoring the need for such bodies to collaborate, co-host and co-deliver for the interest and better of the people, business and economy.
The two bodies believe that since business is ever dynamic, it means the language which business speaks have to be dynamic and, if these changes are taking place, it means professional bodies which embody both business and the language, must be dynamic.
ACCA, a body of professional accountants, have values of integrity, professionalism, inclusion, etc which it shares with CIPM, a body of human resources (HR) professionals in Nigeria.
In her opening remarks at the MoU signing event, Titilayo Akisanya, CIPM’s Vice-President, noted that with the partnership they were entering into, the future was endless, describing the partnership as a marriage of the HR and Accounting (financial reporting) profession that will be creating new business leaders.
The HR guru hoped that the cross-pollination of the two professions in building capacity and capability would create business professionals in the Nigerian, West African and African market as a whole.
“An HR professional should be able to understand how money is made; everybody must know the numbers; this partnership is about the future of work; it is about unleashing leaders into the country,” she said, adding, “People should be given the opportunity to cross professions.”
Disclosing that HR was about helping to achieve business fundamentals, Akinsanya also noted that transferability of professions-finance to HR and vice versa-was the way to keep the business world going.
According to him, the MoU signing event was really significant, explaining that, by that event, “HR professionals understanding finance and accounting as it is known in today’s world will be better business leaders and business managers.”
Tom Isibor, Head of ACCA Nigeria, agreed, stressing that the MoU signing event was not a fluke, but a deliberate effort to impact both professional bodies meaningfully.
He disclosed that he was quite excited, noting that the partnership, which had been in discussion for years, had a lot of opportunities for members of both organisations in terms of capacity building.
“ACCA is a profession that manages the economy while HR manages the people. This partnership therefore seeks to know how both parties can support each other and share expertise and professional experience. ACCA will commit their resources and energy to this partnership,” he assured.
“In today’s world where members need skilling and re-skilling to be relevant, we believe that this partnership has the potential to deliver that,” he assured further.
But, Busola Alofe, CIPM’s Registrar/ CEO, called for caution, saying that organisations must begin to see HR as “an end and not means to end”, hence the need for human capital development. According to her, CIPM & ACCA would henceforth cross- breed to equip both members to have adequate knowledge from each body for value creation and retention.
She noted that since people could now work from anywhere, organisations needed to be more sensitive and holistic in their businesses, pointing out that, “as people and change managers, we know the work of HR and accounting experts are indispensable but they need to be equipped with the knowledge of each other’s profession.”
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