Accountants want to provide expertise in fight against corruption

The National Treasury is collaborating with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) to review the current Accountants Act law in line with current governance structures.

Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said the changes will prioritise professional and ethical conduct, directing that the institute must help fight corruption in the country. “The National Treasury and ICPAK are currently working together to review the Accountants Act in order to align governance structures and disciplinary processes to current requirements,” said Kiptoo.

The PS asked the lobby to develop an action plan that will guide the war against corruption and economic crime by providing a framework to fight corruption.

Fighting corruption

ICPAK chairman Philip Kakai said the move will streamline the sector deal with the infiltration of quacks and deepen professionalism and integrity. It will also ease the burden of over-regulation by different state agencies.

“We have over-regulation of our profession, its either the CMA Act, Central Bank Act and many others that really affect them leading to the high cost of compliance, for example, an auditing firm must register with SASRA and Ministry of cooperatives for them to audit a cooperative society,” said Kakai.

Speaking during the second edition of the 40th annual seminar of ICPAK in Mombasa, Kakai said the institute is ready to help Kenya Kwanza administration in fighting corruption.

 “Provision of expert witnesses to the EACC, DPP for the sake of finance and accounting we are ready to provide the expertise to these bodies that fight corruption,” said Kakai, who is asking the treasury CS Njuguna Ndungu to help them streamline the regulations.

He said the conference seeks to find solutions to emerging global economic disruptions like post-pandemic situations.

 “One of the challenges we are faced today is the outdated perception of the accountants, but that is not the case, we shape the economic and political landscapes and therefore we need that recognition,” said Kakai.

Lowest cost

 He emphasised having quality training to ensure the number of accountants churned out from training institutions are qualified to adapt to the sector.

 “We have the whistleblower policy, we have no law on whistleblower, that we keep our members accountable, and sometimes accountants suffer, from being victimised, we want a law that ensures we fight corruption and our members observe integrity,” said Kakai.

 They asked the government to enforce the law of weeding out quacks in the profession saying a lot of untrained people have infiltrated the profession.

 Kaikai said the institute is concerned over regulations in the profession, thus leading to over-compliance, calling on the government to tap into the professionalism in the accountant profession. “We will be seeking your protection because we suffer due to government corruption deals in the government,” he added.