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Accounting body reiterates support for development

By Chijioke Nelson
24 June 2015   |   12:42 am
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), said it is committed to the economic development of nations, given its history of working with the United Nations. The Executive Director, Markets, of the global accounting body, Stephen Heathcote, gave the assurance in Abuja, while presenting the Gold Approved Employer Certificate to the United Nations Development Programme…
Heathcote

Heathcote

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), said it is committed to the economic development of nations, given its history of working with the United Nations.

The Executive Director, Markets, of the global accounting body, Stephen Heathcote, gave the assurance in Abuja, while presenting the Gold Approved Employer Certificate to the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria, in recognition of the training and development opportunities given to their staffers.

Heathcote said with more than one million professional accountants working in positions of strategic or functional leadership for businesses and governments worldwide, accountants and their professional bodies have a central role in protecting the public interest and delivering public value.

He noted that public value is at the heart of the joint working relationship with the UN.

“For ACCA, public value means acting in the public interest, promoting ethical business and helping to grow economies. That is what the UNDP and its agencies are doing here in Nigeria.

“ACCA and the UN, through its United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), have a strong history of collaboration in developing the global accountancy profession.

“For example, through joint capacity building initiatives to contribute to high quality corporate reporting and adherence to international standards, there was a joint report examining the role of accountants in aiding economic development and numerous other areas,” he said.

The accountant said ACCA and the UN share strategic priorities, which are to build national capacity in financial management and promote global accounting and auditing standards and good governance.

“ACCA’s strong track record of capacity building is a testament to this. We have completed over 50 development projects across 36 countries, and we have over 90 accountancy partnerships around the world.

“We are committed to building strong bilateral links with national and regional organisations and our work here in Nigeria is a key part of this.

“ACCA, together with the UN, is ideally placed to advise and support the profession, influence governments, regulators and employers to act in the public interest. After all, we both work to ensure that capacity development is top of the agenda,” he said.

Speaking further, he explained that the accounting body believes that professional accountants are essential to underpinning economic success and sustainable future, which he looks forward to working with partners in Nigeria to create a pipeline of professional accountants, qualified for global benchmarks and with strong knowledge of the accounting profession in Nigeria and more broadly.

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