Lagos State government has commenced the training of 800 chartered accountants in the state’s employ on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) to enhance their capacity and increase efficiency in service delivery.
Rabiu Olowo, the state commissioner for finance, said at the flag off of the training that the state having already transited from cash-based reporting to IPSAS from 2016 financial year, there is the need to further sharpen the skills of accountants in the public sector of Lagos, to keep them abreast of global developments and international best practice in the accounting profession.
“The state is passionate about the adoption and continuous application of IPSAS due to numerous embedded advantages, and increasing global demand for transparency as well as adherence to value of fair reporting,” said Olowo, who reiterated the commitment of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu led government to training and retraining of officers of the state workforce.
According to him, the government strongly believed that employees are the biggest assets needed to achieve the state’s THEMES strategic development agenda. The ongoing training, Olowo said, ‘is unprecedented’ because over 800 account officers across the state service are involved.
He explained that the accountants were also being prepared to write and pass the ACCA Certificate in IPSAS examination, which has come to replace the cash-based reporting in the public sector due to its inherent transparency, openness, effectiveness and efficiency. “It is expedient for government to deliver on promises, and this would better be facilitated and made possible by high quality accrual based financial reporting that strengthens public financial management and increase public trust,” he said.
Speaking on the direct benefits of IPSAS and its implementation to Lagos, the commissioner the said it represented fundamental steps for the government to not only increase transparency and accountability to citizens and stakeholders, but also to engender effective decision making by contributing to fiscal stability and sustainability, for greater dividends of governance. He maintained that the government has no greater priority now than to build the capacity of the public service in line with the current administration’s commitment of ensuring that the best global standards of accounting techniques are adopted in Lagos.
He assured that the current administration would sustain the programme, as the state “is committed and will continue to play a leading role, so that other states could emulate since it is for the betterment of the profession and higher ethical conducts and practices.
Ganiat Raji, the permanent secretary in the ministry of finance, urged the participating accountants to embrace in order to proliferate the IPSAS’ values and best accounting practices in Lagos.
The training which began on October 7, is being conducted in batches and will run till November. And at the end of the training over 800 public sector accountants and finance professionals in Lagos State would have been updated with the evolving standard of IPSAS, equipped with the right capacities and skills, and positioned to effectively apply IPSAS to accounting process and reporting in the state.
JOSHHUA BASSEY
