The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) have entered into a new partnership to commence a joint programme known as a Continuous Professional Training Programme (CPTP) for members of both bodies.
With this new arrangement, both professional bodies are expected to jointly conduct research in areas of accountancy, tax, corporate governance, among others.
Speaking during the launch of the new initiative, the immediate Past President, CITN and Head of the African Tax Institute, Prof. Olateju Somorin, said the collaboration would be beneficial to members of both bodies.
“The ACCA is a global body that has presence in many countries. So with this partnership, we are going to have access to resource persons and rich knowledge from ACCA.
“Equally, the CITN is very strong in terms of the Nigerian tax system. This knowledge would help members to be better position in curbing the illicit flow of funds, especially out of Nigeria and block some loopholes in the system,†she explained.
According to her, the CPTP is a fusion of the training programmes of both institutes, saying that the knowledge of both institutes would be derived by members.
Shedding more light on the collaboration, the Business Development Manager, ACCA, Aderonke Adebule, who represented the ACCA Country Head at the event, described it as a fantastic opportunity for both bodies.
“One of the things, the country needs today is investment in people. So, that is what this partnership does. It is expected to make members of both institutes robust finance professionals, to deliver on all objectives on the economy,†she added.
Also, the International Assembly Representative for ACCA in Nigeria, Mr. Babajide Ibironke, pointed out that ACCA as a global body was formed in 1904 and is present in 185 countries.
“We can rely on our global network of about 200,000 members that we have across the globe to be able to some advocacy work around taxation. What ACCA would gain is the fact that currently we do not offer the Nigerian tax variant in our curriculum.
“We were looking for a partner that we can work with to be able to develop our members on that. So, ACCA has found CITN as a veritable partner in that respect and we believe our members who are already qualified would begin to take advantage of the mandatory continuous professional education as well,†he said.
