ACCA proffers winning strategies against corruption

By Chioma Obinagwam

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has proffered some winning strategies for the fight against corruption, which has threatened businesses in the country.

Head of Policy- Sub Saharan Africa, ACCA, Jane Ohadike, noted the need for government to build confidence and demonstrate its commitment to change in  all the arms of government.

“The fight against corruption as it is, communicates the current administration’s resolve towards the issue, however, observations that the anti-corruption initiative is only being actioned by the executive without the support of the other two arms of government, shows that Nigeria may be heading down the same well-trodden path as before,” she stated.

Although the current government has leveraged technology in the financial services sector in setting up a Treasury Single Account(TSA), and facilitating the Bank Verification Number(BVN) process to step up controls, and mitigate fraud, she said that there was need for sustainability and further implementation throughout the public sector.

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Apart from the above strategies, which are inexhaustive, Ohadike identified the importance and contributions of professionals like auditors, accountants, communication experts etc in executing ‘Due diligence’ in the war against corruption.

She said: “the necessary due diligence process from the outset will require the broad skills of an auditor to unearth and assess the inherent gaps across public systems and structures. Other critical competencies would include accountants, Information technology strategists, communications experts and seasoned change managers.”

Ohadike, while outlining the strategies, noted how critical it was for Nigeria to change its perception in the international sphere, where it currently ranks 26 out of 100, where zero is (very corrupt) and 100 (very clean).

She emphasised the urgency of changing the perception to enable businesses thrive in country.