The Association of National Accountants in Nigeria, ANAN says it is re-strategising to meet international standard and remain relevant in the Society.
The Association’s President, Professor Benjamin Osisioma made this known in Enugu at a 3-day Mandatory Continuing Professional Development MCPD programme held in Enugu on Wednesday.
Professor Osisioma said, “If we’re just counting money, they are manufacturing equipment that will do it better than us. If we’re just balancing books, they now have software that will do it better and faster.
“We’re saying that there are things that must command our attention today if we must remain relevant. Call it the future ready accountant, call it the digital accountant or accountant that will fit into the fourth industrial revolution that is about to unfold in the World and we’re preparing our members to fit into the new emerging World,” he stated
ANAN has also introduced Forensic Accounts in Nigeria and gave substance to the meaning of Forensic Audits.
The President said; “We’re trained on forensic tool kits so that they will go through the affairs of government and organisations and fish out financial irregularities.
“We are raising this issue of forensic investigation because that is one of the major banes of this nation.
“People don’t realise that money has footprints. When you steal money, it leaves footprints. A Forensic Accountant is trained to find out the footprints of stolen money and trace it. It’s called money trail.”
The Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi said the government has confidence in ANAN and the members have proven to be trustworthy.
The Governor was represented at the event by his Technical Assistant on Financial matters, Dr. Paschal Okolie. He is also the Chairman Local Organizing Committee, LOC.
Meanwhile, the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN said there was urgent need to re-arrange, Curriculum of Accounting programme in higher institutions to include modern accounting systems such as Sage 50, Quick books online, Xero, Sage Intact tax software, and Thompsons Ultratx, to mitigate technology challenges.
The Chairman, ANAN Enugu State branch, Professor Uche Ugwuanyi said that it had become imperative to re-engineer the noble profession of accounting to improve operational performance and reduce cost by identifying and eliminating non value added tasks.
He said; “It is pertinent to reiterate that Accountants like many other professionals were amazed with the “working from home” order during the lock down both in private and public sectors of Nigeria economy.
“That is why the impact of Covid-19 pandemic has made the deployment of ICTs important in the flow of data transfer between subsystems, the inputs data test and the output data sharing, etc.”
Professor Ugwuanyi however said that the iota valve of accounting is domiciled in the application of state of the art technologies in computation, data analysis and report of findings including the back end operations such as auditing.
“Account systems and processes can benefit from re-engineering in terms of enhanced operational and individual productivity, increased task handling and data sharing efficiency, improved access to business information, higher profits and increased responsiveness.
Interestingly, the Covid-19 pandemic has created a new order of doing things, thinking differently and breaking new grounds.
“It is now a clarion call for all of us to embrace the challenges and opportunities this pandemic presented to us. Consequently, most business owners are contending with scarce fund and low loan/ credit performance hence the need for business process re-engineering that will improve operational performance and reduce costs by identifying and eliminating non-value added tasks,” he explained.
The theme of the programme is, ” Re-engineering Accounting Profession in the Post Covid-19 Era.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
