How forensic accounting can curb corruption Expert
News & Trends •
on his part representative of the institute of forensic accountants of nigeria prof. usman awheela commended the senate for the proposed bills1 by naomi lagi1 speaking on thursday during a public hearing organised by senate committee on establishment and public service chaired by sen. emmanuel paulker1 the hearing was on four bills namely chartered institute of forensic and investigative auditors in nigeria chartered institute of finance and control in nigeria1 others are chartered institute of forensic accountants of nigeria and the institute of mediators and conciliators bill1 according to enape if the bill for chartered institute of forensic accountants of nigeria is passed it will help nigeria to have skilled professionals to deepen fraud prevention detection and preserve money in government treasury for infrastructural development that is fast disappearing in our country today1 she stressed that the cifia was not in conflict with any other established institution or body stressing that the role of the institute was clear cut1 cifia should not be seen as a rival to ican just as cifia is not seen as a rival to anan1 nothing stops an accountant from becoming a member of ican and cifia or any other professional body for that matter she said1 enape further noted that the accounting profession had many branches with different responsibilities and professional bodies regulating their activities1 auditing has no professional body regulating it this gave the opportunity for financial accountants to claim autonomy and as a matter of fact leads to their inability to control and prevent fraud corruption and other financial crimes she said1 she therefore posited that the cifia if passed would monitor the serve as a check to the financial statements prepared by accountants and also help the federal government fight fraud and other financial crimes in its agencies1 the president chartered institute of forensic and investigative auditors in nigeria cifia mrs victoria enape has said that forensic accounting was the only way to control fraud1 awheela said their members had not been allowed to practice forensic accounting since there was no backing law1 he explained that forensic accounting is the unique blend of education and experience in applying accounting auditing skills and investigative techniques to uncover truth form legal opinions in order to assist in litigation support1 forensic accounting professionals provide assistance on cases which are primarily related to calculation and estimation of economic damages and related issues that includes white-collar crimes1 however the institute of chartered accountants of nigeria ican kicked against the proposed bills saying their functions and responsibilities were already contained in the 1965 act that established the institute and would therefore amount to needless duplication of functions1 ican president mr ismaila zakari said that the institute had in 2009 established seven faculties to provide training for members in their areas of specialisation1 zakari added that the institute also provided specialist certification courses and issue certificates to qualified members as evidence of expertise and authority to practice their specialised skills1 the forensic accounting curriculum is carefully drawn to ensure that to be a forensic accountant one must necessarily be a qualified chartered accountant be certain of technical competence and preserved professional integrity1 meanwhile the minister of finance mrs. kemi adeosun said the relevance of forensic accounting globally could not be over-stressed noting that many countries across the world including nigeria had suffered from fraudulent practices1 the minister represented by director of home finance in the ministry mrs. olubunmi siyanbola chronicled federal governments efforts in detecting and preventing fraud including presidential initiative on continuous audit efficiency unit and whistle blowing programme1 she however emphasised the need for senate to exercise caution such that the essence of professionalism was not destroyed in the course of creating new bodies1 chairman of the committee sen. emmanuel paulker said the passage of the bill on chartered institute of forensic and investigative auditors in nigeria would promote high ethical standards among members1 this is in a bid to stamp out cases of compromised auditing in the country he said1