Bahati asks ICPAU to register accountants

Jul 31, 2017

ICPAU was established in 1992 by an act of Parliament to regulate and maintain the standard of accountancy in Uganda

State Minister of Finance for Planning, David Bahati, has asked the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPAU) to ensure that all practicing accountants are registered, as government steps up efforts to weed out corruption and fraud. 

Bahati said most of the fraud in the public and private sector is perpetrated by unregistered practitioners, with evil ambitions and nothing to lose. 

"If we have all practitioners registered with the regulating body, we shall not have as many issues as we have today. Most of the fraud has been perpetrated by quarks and has been discovered by professionals working as auditors. We therefore, need to streamline the profession to kick out all quarks," said Bahati. 

He was speaking during a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre to mark a month long celebration as ICPAU celebrates 25 years of service. 

ICPAU is a national professional accountancy organization established in 1992 by an act of Parliament to regulate and maintain the standard of accountancy in Uganda. 

The institute's chief executive, Derrick Nkajja said there is a strong correlation between the increase in the number of professional accountants and the growth of the economy. 

"Currently we have more than 2000 professional accountants with more than 400 employed by government. This has inspired confidence in investors and development partners and can be visibly seen by the country's level of growth," he said. 

The ICPAU president, Protazio Begumisa said it is improper for anyone to practice accountancy in Uganda without a practicing certificate from the regulating body. 

"We regulate the conduct of all professional accountants in the country, and therefore, anyone who doesn't have our authorization to practice is unprofessional," he said.

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