The Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) says it is committed to connecting communities and inspiring young accountants within its member-countries across the globe, including Nigeria.
Joseph Owolabi, the newly appointed ACCA global president, made this commitment in an interview with BusinessDay on the sideline ACCA Nigeria’s informal stakeholders meeting in Lagos recently.
He explained that the Association was very passionate about connecting communities around the 171 countries where they have members.
Owolabi, who is the first Nigerian and African and black man to ever emerge the president of ACCA, said the organisation and its council are committed they to connecting their members to be able to create opportunities for them in Nigeria, UK and other countries.
He added that he also wanted to inspire young accountants and future chartered accountants on their journey, advising that they should focus and pass their courses and qualify as chartered accountants as those are the two major things he wanted to focus on in his presidential year.
The president also stated that he was passionate about the organization and would be working with the rest of the council members to maintain the status of the Association as the number one professional accounting body that the world needs.
He said he would achieve this by remaining focused in driving the organization’s council strategy which has been set up till 2025.
He revealed that ACCA was working to ensure that members were equipped with necessary skills and resources to make sure the profession was protected and remained relevant in a changing society.
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“We equip our members with the skills they need to survive. The world and economy are changing and we don’t know what it will be in the near future. The exchange rate is not stable. We are committed to ensuring that the qualification remains relevant such that we support our people to remain relevant wherever they are.
“We have supported our members in Ukraine with all the happenings there and also people that have moved out of those countries to be able to get jobs where they are,” he added.
Owolabi noted that Nigeria and Africarequired more accounting skills, disclosing that the association was working tirelessly to providing innovative solutions to help develop local accounting bodies in Africa.
“There are pockets of research that shows that we need more accountants in Africa than we currently have. If you look at the countries in Africa compared to, say, Ireland, you will see that the ratio of population to accountants is higher there.
“There should be an adequate number of accountants per population. Definitely, Nigeria and Africa still require more accountants and that’s why we are doing innovative work not just in Nigeria, but also other African countries to help develop the local accounting body in those countries,” Owolabi assured.
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