The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IPSAS

  • Fed Govt assures on IPSAS’ implementation

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun at the weekend, said the Federal Government was committed to the adoption and implementation of international Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the country.

    She stated this in a message to a one-day workshop on “Making Change Happen  in the Public Sector’ jointly organised by the Association of National Accountants  of Nigeria (ANAN), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation in Lagos.

    The minister, who was represented by Omoniyi Fagbemi, said IPSAS would enable the government to reap the benefits of transparency, accountability, probity and better decision making.

    She urged participants to ensure the success of IPSAS, adding that she expected deliberations to cover capacity gap, ICT infrastructure, inventory and valuation of assets and others which were germane to effective implementation of IPSAS.

    Adeosun praised the initiative of the organisers of the workshop designed to enhance ongoing national efforts to entrench transparency, prudence and accountability in governance.  “The workshop is also designed to ensure that the method of reporting the public sector follows global best practice.

    “The government has intensified efforts at introducing and strengthening reforms in Public Financial Management. This can be seen in the implementation of Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS); the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS); the Treasury Single Account (TSA); and the international Public Sector Accounting standards (IPSAS), the minister said.

    According to Adeosun, arrangements are in top gear for the commencement of IPSAS Accrual Accounting by January 2016.

    “Prior to this, the nation had commenced the implementation of IPSAS Cash Basis of Accounting in 2014, the minister said.

    The ANAN President, Anthony Nzom, said the association would support the Federal Government in its crusade of Change. According to Nzom, people resist change out of ignorance and stick to the old order.

    “We know that this country is endowed with human and material resources with Nigerians in different parts of the world. ‘ANAN would not be claiming one of the foremost in Africa and in public sector without playing important roles in the change,’’ the ANAN chief said. He described the collaboration between ANAN and IFAC a strategic.

    Prof Stephen Ocheni of Kogi State University, spoke on Treasury Single Account (TSA), and said the TSA was designed to achieve a consolidated view of government’s accounts.

    Ocheni said the TSA was also meant to undertake optimum utilisation of available funds, ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in the budgetary process. “The budget performance of government can be ascertained from one point and this is TSA,’’ he said.

    Director, Consolidated Accounts, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Prof.  S. A. Zubairu, spoke on IPSAS, saying that the office had prepared all tiers of government for the scheme.

    He said the office had issued literature and IPSAS Accrual Accounting manuals. According to him, the manual is applicable to Federal, states and local governments.

  • Fed Govt assures on IPSAS’ implementation

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun at the weekend, said the Federal Government was committed to the adoption and implementation of international Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the country.

    She stated this in a message to a one-day workshop on “Making Change Happen  in the Public Sector’ jointly organised by the Association of National Accountants  of Nigeria (ANAN), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation in Lagos.

    The minister, who was represented by Omoniyi Fagbemi, said IPSAS would enable the government to reap the benefits of transparency, accountability, probity and better decision making.

    She urged participants to ensure the success of IPSAS, adding that she expected deliberations to cover capacity gap, ICT infrastructure, inventory and valuation of assets and others which were germane to effective implementation of IPSAS.

    Adeosun praised the initiative of the organisers of the workshop designed to enhance ongoing national efforts to entrench transparency, prudence and accountability in governance.  “The workshop is also designed to ensure that the method of reporting the public sector follows global best practice.

    “The government has intensified efforts at introducing and strengthening reforms in Public Financial Management. This can be seen in the implementation of Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS); the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS); the Treasury Single Account (TSA); and the international Public Sector Accounting standards (IPSAS), the minister said.

    According to Adeosun, arrangements are in top gear for the commencement of IPSAS Accrual Accounting by January 2016.

    “Prior to this, the nation had commenced the implementation of IPSAS Cash Basis of Accounting in 2014, the minister said.

    The ANAN President, Anthony Nzom, said the association would support the Federal Government in its crusade of Change. According to Nzom, people resist change out of ignorance and stick to the old order.

    “We know that this country is endowed with human and material resources with Nigerians in different parts of the world. ‘ANAN would not be claiming one of the foremost in Africa and in public sector without playing important roles in the change,’’ the ANAN chief said. He described the collaboration between ANAN and IFAC a strategic.

    Prof Stephen Ocheni of Kogi State University, spoke on Treasury Single Account (TSA), and said the TSA was designed to achieve a consolidated view of government’s accounts.

    Ocheni said the TSA was also meant to undertake optimum utilisation of available funds, ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in the budgetary process. “The budget performance of government can be ascertained from one point and this is TSA,’’ he said.

    Director, Consolidated Accounts, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Prof.  S. A. Zubairu, spoke on IPSAS, saying that the office had prepared all tiers of government for the scheme.

    He said the office had issued literature and IPSAS Accrual Accounting manuals. According to him, the manual is applicable to Federal, states and local governments.

    The Chief Operating Officer of IFAC, Ms Alta Prinsloo, said Public Financial Management reform was the ultimate public interest issues for the accounting  profession.

    Speaking on “Accountability now,” Prinsloo said there “is need for a global campaign to raise awareness, facilitate partnerships and support capacity building’’.  She talked about challenges, saying that public sector finance personnel were often not qualified accountants and not members of professional organisations. Prinsloo, however, said it “takes an average of three years to transit to Accrual-Based recording of transactions’’.

     

  • IPSAS: January 2016 for implementation

    Nigeria will begin the implementation of Accrual Basis under the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in January next year, the Federal Government has said.

    Accountant-General of the Federation Ahmed Idris, who spoke in Abuja at a book launch: “Government Accounting in Nigeria: An IPSAS Approach” by a former Accountant-General of the Federation, Kayode Naiyeju and Prof. Eddy Omolehinwa, said Nigeria started the implementation of the cash basis in last year.

    Idris added that the implementation committees, at both the state and national levels, were working to ensure that Nigeria implements the policy next year.

    “There is an implementation committee at the national and state levels and they are working based on a time frame. So there is no delay; we are on course.

    “The accrual basis is scheduled to start in January and by God’s grace, it will. We want to be a global player and that is why we keyed in”.

    Idris explained that with the implementation of IPSAS, Nigeria would operate on the same platform with advanced economies.

    His words: “We will operate on the same platform with advanced economies in terms of financial accounting reporting, information rendition, services of our financial accounts and so on.

    “We stand to benefit because we will be rated like any other advanced economy, like any other advanced player in the global economy. It will make information open and transparent”.

    Co-author, Prof. Omolehinwa, said the book will assist government to tackle corruption.

    “We need to take government accounting more serious in Nigeria because without proper accounting, we are never going to have accountability and without accountability, we are not going to tackle corruption.

    “And if we don’t tackle corruption, our country stands being labelled a failure. So we have written the book because we don’t want this to happen. We want stakeholders to know the roles they are expected to play,” Omolehinwa said.

  • Nigeria to adopt cash-based IPSAS in Jan. 2013

    Nigeria to adopt cash-based IPSAS in Jan. 2013

    Nigeria is to adopt the cash version of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in January 2013.

    Stung into action by the adoption of IPSAS by countries, such as Ghana, Benin Republic and Kenya, who started the process after Nigeria, the Federal Government has moved to adopt one of the two version in January 2013.

    The second version, the Accrual version will be adopted in 2015. Addressing reporters at a stakeholders’ workshop on the roadmap for the adoption of IPSAS in Nigeria in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of State for Finance Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama said Nigeria was fine tuning the process to make the adoption of IPSAS suitable to Nigeria.

    To this end, a sub-committee, he said, has been mandated to come up with “a draft format of the National Standard Uniform Chart of Accounts, Budget and General purpose financial statements that will meet international best practices as required by IPSAS.”