ICAN, ANAN clash at public hearing on forensics and fraud examiners bill

The Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Association of National Accountant of Nigeria (ANAN) yesterday in Abuja clashed at the public hearing of a bill to establish Chartered Institute for Forensic and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN).

While ICAN insisted that the objectives being proposed in the bill, which included organising and providing professional training in specialist areas of forensic and fraud examiners, already exist in the accounting profession.

But ANAN insisted that the establishment of the institute would benefit the country towards achieving good governance.

Speaking at the public hearing of the bill, the Second Vice Chairman of ICAN, Mr. Innocent Okwuosa, recalled that there was a similar bill, Chartered Institute of Forensics and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria passed by the eighth Assembly, but that President Muhammadu Buhari refused assent to the bill.

Okwuosa noted that ICAN has forensic faculty that trains people on forensic, adding that everything being discussed in the bill is already being covered in the training that ICAN is providing.

Okwuosa pointed out that forensic is not a primary profession, stressing that globally, specialist areas like forensics are built on foundation of primary profession and cannot therefore be a stand-alone profession.

According to him “This bill seeks to create one professional body that encroaches into the practice of other numerous professional body like accounting, law, engineer, among others, and this is an anathema as unprofessional body can claim to be the bit and pieces of other professions.”

Okwuosa stressed that if the National Assembly passes the proposed bill, it should not criminalise those who are already practising forensics and fraud examination, such as members of ICAN and ANAN.

However, the Chief Executive Officer of ANAN, Dr. Nurudeen Abdulahi, said after carefully studying the bill, ANAN has no objection to it.

He added that the bill would benefit the country towards achieving good governance, promoting transparency and accountability both in the public and private sectors of the economy.

Earlier, the Chairman of House Committee on Anti-Corruption and Commerce, Hon. Nicholas Garba, said the hearing was to garner critically needed inputs from relevant stakeholders and to accommodate citizens’ participation in governance particularly in the law-making process.

He stressed that the Chartered Institute for Forensic and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) is a professional association which has been in existence for a while and only requires a law to back it up.

Garba said: “The damage suffered by African countries due to embezzlement, fraud and corruption is over 25 percent of the combined annual budget of the entire continent, unfortunately, if nothing is done to reverse this trend, it will exceed 45 percent of the total combine annual budget of the continent by 2050.

“Therefore, the Chartered Institute of Forensic And Certified Fraud Examiners Of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) is committed to resolving the global challenge posed by embezzlers and career criminals.

On his part, the sponsor of the bill, Hon. Yusuf Yakub, said the bill, when passed into law, would tremendously help Nigeria to fight against corruption, trace, track and fast-track recovery of looted funds/assets/resources; build capacity, attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and restore the confidence of investors in the Nigerian economy.