Steve Agbota

Fayez Choudhury is the Chief Executive Officer of International Federation of Accounting (IFAC). Fayez who was the Vice President of Corporate Finance and Risk Management, World Bank, spent three years in Nigeria while developing the consulting practice.
Fayez who started his career with PriceWaterhouse in London was appointed to serve on the Public Interest Oversight Board from its formation in 2005 until 2010, at which he chaired the Global Steering Committee of the International Forum for Accountability Development and was a member of the Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). He also served as a member of the Iraq Advisory and Monitoring Board established by the UN Security Council.
In this interview with Daily Sun, the IFAC’s CEO spoke on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria’s (ICAN)’s adoption of Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) and Nigeria’s creation of a whistleblower fund, which will help to ensure that accountants can easily identify and put a stop to corruption.
He said IFAC is supporting Nigeria to fight fraud and corruption through ICAN and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), both of which are IFAC members.
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War on graft
Having more accountants as a percentage of the workforce is correlated with better outcomes in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Perception Index, according to IFAC’s Nexus 3 study.
Fraud and corruption thrive in the dark. Professional accountants operate in the public interest and a strong accounting profession, focused on implementing high-quality consistent global standards, helps to shine a light on financial management and makes it more difficult for corruption to occur. While accountants are essential to building stronger organisations and economies, they cannot alone solve the problem. Their power to help is amplified in nations with strong, cross-sectoral commitment to good governance principles. When regulators, the public and private sectors, professionals and civil society watchdogs come together, they help to create a far better anti-corruption culture.
On July 15, 2017, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ NOCLAR (Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations) standard came into effect. It’s a first-of-its-kind framework to guide professional accountants in what actions to take in the public interest when they become aware of a potential illegal act, known as non-compliance with laws and regulations, or NOCLAR, committed by a client or employer.
With the implementation of the NOCLAR standard, professional accountants are now responsible for resolving or reporting potentially illegal non-compliance with laws and regulations when their government has mechanisms in place to engage in such resolution.
For NOCLAR to function effectively, the standard needs to be adopted and systems need to be put in place that allow for whistleblowing. ICAN’s adoption of NOCLAR and Nigeria’s creation of a whistleblower fund will help to ensure accountants can more easily identify and put a stop to corruption.
Support
A strong, global accountancy profession is a key part of ensuring national prosperity. For countries to participate in the global economy and access international markets, they must be able to project trust and confidence that their economies are stable and reputable.
As one of Africa’s most important economies, Nigeria is supported by a passionate and engaged accountancy profession. Indeed, since 2013 Nigeria has been represented on IFAC’s board by Major General Sebastian Owuama.
Nigeria’s public interest is being served by two member organisations – ICAN and ANAN – both of which are IFAC members. Last year, IFAC selected CPA Ireland to partner with ANAN, and its training arm, the Nigerian College of Accountancy, to review and strengthen both its study material and examination process. The funding for this work comes from almost £5 million from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to fund PAO capacity building in 10 emerging countries over seven years. Other African countries benefiting from this collaborative programme are Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
ICAN
Through our member organisations, IFAC is proud to represent nearly three million professional accountants throughout the world. ICAN and ANAN members are part of a global force for good. Strengthening ANAN’s education provision is part of building a strong profession and bringing next-generation accountants into the fold. All over the world, the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Survey of millennials shows fraud and corruption is their top national concern. This should be of immense pride to Nigerians, who should see that generation as potential public interest champions; and there’s no better career to help defend the public interest than accountancy!
NOCLAR
NOCLAR is important because it helps stimulate greater accountability among organisations; it helps protect stakeholders and the general public from substantial harm resulting from violation of laws and regulations.
For accountants, it helps to further strengthen the profession’s reputation and positions it for a greater role in the global fight against the corrosive effects of fraud, money laundering and corruption. This has wide-ranging and positive implications for not just public institutions but also corporations that don’t respect the public interest.
Importantly, NOCLAR clarifies that turning a blind eye to potential non-compliance is inappropriate, and renews the emphasis on management and those charged with governance to address the matter. Overall, NOCLAR should support increased reporting of non-compliance to public authorities pursuant to Nigeria’s reporting requirements in law or regulation.
Economy
By creating a robust and capable accountancy profession that helps identify corrupt practices and brings transparency to businesses, Nigeria can ensure that the economy works efficiently for the benefit of the public; that all businesses can engage in Nigeria’s economy on equal footing, and that the public has visibility into the workings of organisations, the financial markets, and the economy.
Furthermore, strong accounting practices help to build trust within Nigeria and, in turn, globally, helping to encourage international investment in Nigerian businesses and the development of international business relationships.
Audited accounts
Where there is endemic organisational corruption, it is very difficult to prevent. That said, our members around the world help to ensure corruption’s ability to thrive is hampered by application of strong, high-quality standards. Nigeria’s professional accountants are supported by the excellent work of ICAN and ANAN, which, in the public interest, also takes a very dim view of those who bring their organisations into disrepute.
And while application of audit, ethics and accountancy standards helps to create consistent, comparable information that can more easily be analysed for inconsistencies, the future also offers great promise. Next-generation talent keen to deploy technology will be increasingly aided by real time reporting coupled with artificial intelligence that will make it even harder to commit fraud.
Major drivers of corruption in Nigeria
We believe any sort of corruption levels are too high and we are encouraged by Nigeria’s accountancy professions’ commitment to tackling it. At this year’s African Congress of Accountants in Uganda, it was clear that fighting fraud and corruption is a major rallying cry for accountants across Africa. It’s matched by similar passion in Latin America, Asia and Europe. There is much Africa’s leaders can do to learn from each other and share their learning and experience with the world too.
Investments
By building trust in its institutions and strongly encouraging a culture of good governance, transparency and accountability, Nigeria can bolster international business confidence. The nation’s professional accountants are a critical partner in the creation of this good governance ecology and both ANAN and ICAN are going from strength-to-strength.
Resources
Having lived and worked in Nigeria, I can attest that there are many stars at home too! There’s no doubt an accountancy career offers significant global mobility and I’m an example of it. I also have known many Nigerians overseas and they’re as passionate for their nation to succeed as their families and friends at home. This point, however, is a global one; all around the world, young people have the motivation to get out and see the world and gain experience of different cultures and ways of working. When they return home, they bring those skills with them.
As Nigeria continues to grow stronger, more transparent and more accountable, more young people will see the opportunity to be successful at home and abroad.