Economy
Senate Passes Forensic Accounting Bill
By Dipo Olowookere
The Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria Bill and Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria Bill were yesterday passed by the Senate.
This followed consideration of the clause by clause of a report submitted by Chairman of the Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Senator Emmanuel Paulker.
The report comprises Bills on Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria; Chartered Institute of Finance and Control in Nigeria; Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria.
Recall that prior to the passage of the Bill about four months ago Professional Accountants and Auditors from different bodies, at a public hearing on the Bills disagreed with the Senate on the proposed Bill for Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria; and Bill for Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria, respectively.
Consequently while speaking to participants at the forum, Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun said the relevance of forensic accounting globally could not be over stressed, noting that many countries across the world, including Nigeria have suffered from fraudulent practices.
In their presentations, representatives of the Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria, Professor Usman Ali Awheela and the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria, CIFIAN, Mrs. Victoria Ayishetu Enape while applauding the senate for the proposed bills, noted that their members have not been allowed to practice forensic accounting since there was no legislation to that effect.
According to Mrs. Enape, if the Bill for Chartered Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria is passed “will help Nigeria to have skilled professionals to deepen the fraud prevention, detection and preserve money in government treasury for infrastructural development that is fast disappearing in our country today”.
She disabused the minds of stakeholders at the session about the alleged conflict between the functions of the CIFIA and other institutes established by existing legislations.
“CIFIA should not be seen as a rival to ICAN, just as CIFIA is not seen as a rival to ANAN. Nothing stops an accountant from becoming a member of ICAN and CIFIA or any other professional body for that matter”, she stressed.
Mrs. Enape further informed that accounting profession has many branches with different responsibilities with professional bodies regulating their activities.
She added that the “auditing which has no professional body regulating it, gave the opportunity for financial accountants to claim autonomy, and as a matter of fact leads to their inability to control and prevent fraud, corruption and other financial crimes”.
In his submission, the Chief Executive of Institute of Forensic Accountants of Nigeria, Prof. Awheela, said “forensic accounting is the unique blend of education and experience in applying accounting, auditing skills and investigative techniques to uncover truth, form legal opinions in order to assist in litigation support”.
According to him, “forensic accounting professionals provide assistance on cases which are primarily related to calculation and estimation of economic damages and related issues that includes white-collar crimes”.
However, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN kicked against the proposed bills, saying their functions and responsibilities are already contained in the 1965 Act that established the Institute and would therefore amount to needless duplication of functions.
ICAN President, Mr. Ismaila Zakari informed that the Institute had in 2009 established seven Faculties to provide training for members in their areas of specialization, adding that they also provide specialist certification courses and issue certificates to qualified members as evidence of expertise and authority to practise their specialized skills.
“The Forensic accounting curriculum is carefully drawn to ensure that, to be a forensic accountant, one must necessarily be a qualified chartered accountant, be certain of technical competence and preserved professional integrity.
“From the foregoing, Forensic accounting is adequately covered within the scope of the training that ICAN provides and therefore, the quest for a separate Institute for just Forensic accounting is totally uncalled for”, Zakari stressed.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira opened the new trading week on a negative note on Monday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) and the black market.
At the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar by N5 to sell for N1,380/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,375/$1, and at the GTBank FX desk, it shed N1 to trade at N1,373/$1 versus N1,372/$1.
At the official market, it lost 63 Kobo or 0.05 per cent against the Dollar during the session to close at N1,362.84/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s value of N1,362.21/$1.
However, the Nigerian Naira gained N2.30 against the Pound Sterling at the spot market yesterday, quoting at N1,821.29/£1 compared with the previous rate of N1,823.59/£1, and improved against the Euro by 23 Kobo to settle at N1,574.35/€1 versus N1,574.58/€1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank forex turnover increased to $92.248 million across 90 deals, from $73.565 million last Friday.
On the policy front, participants believed that the application of the fourth edition of the Foreign Exchange Manual of the central bank, which introduces updated guidelines for foreign exchange transactions and tightening compliance requirements for authorised dealers and market participants, will enhance market flexibility and ease previous restrictions.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market snapped from recent declines, jolted by Strategy’s purchase of 1,550 Bitcoin for approximately $101 million, increasing its total holdings to 845,256 BTC. The company raised $181 million through common stock sales, using the proceeds to fund the bitcoin purchase and increase its cash reserves to $1 billion, pushing the price of the coin higher by 3.2 per cent to $63,731.69.
Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 8.4 per cent to $0.1738, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 5.2 per cent to $1,711.54, Solana (SOL) expanded by 5.1 per cent to $67.82, and Ripple (XRP) improved by 4.9 per cent to $1.18.
Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 4.3 per cent to $0.0873, Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 2.7 per cent to $609.50, and TRON (TRX) increased by 0.7 per cent to $0.3274, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $0.9997 and $0.9998, respectively.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The federal government has been advised to consider exploring other funding sources to finance its budget deficits.
Speaking with Punch recently, the chief executive of CSA Advisory, Mr Aliyu Ilias, said the current appetite for borrowing by the government cannot be sustained because it elevates debt-servicing costs.
The economist suggested the sale of some public assets and the involvement of the private sector in infrastructure financing for economic growth.
According to him, running to the debt markets to raise funds for the government is not the best route to take, as the reliance on borrowing always leads to higher debt-servicing obligations.
“The more you borrow, the more you are also incurring more debt services,” he said, tasking the government to also capitalise on increased oil revenues stemming from ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
“The government can actually sell off some of their assets to raise more money. The government can also, if you look at the revenue we are getting from oil, it’s getting more, especially with this war. It’s another opportunity for us to actually not borrow again,” Mr Ilias submitted.
He also pointed to ongoing tax reforms as another avenue to improve government finances and narrow the fiscal gap.
“The government can also look at tax reform. The fact is that the government does not have money. The only chance for getting more money is to address the financial deficit,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil was up by $1 on Monday as Iran and Israel said they had halted attacks on each other following an appeal from US President Donald Trump.
Brent crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.3 per cent to trade at $94.25 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 76 cents or 0.8 per cent to $91.30 per barrel.
Iran’s military said Monday it halted attacks on Israel after the two countries exchanged their most intense strikes in months, further straining an already shaky ceasefire as well as the US-Israeli relationship. Iran, however, said it would resume strikes if Israel continued to hit Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel also halted attacks on Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, stopping short of acknowledging a ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said the countries were aiming for.
President Trump said earlier that the US blockade, which was introduced in April, would remain in place “in full force” until a final peace agreement between the two warring nations is reached.
Prices gained more than 5 per cent earlier on Monday after renewed Israeli strikes on Iran and attacks on Lebanon had reduced hopes of an imminent end to the wider war.
Market analysts noted that because of the strikes, investors were concerned that flows through the Strait of Hormuz might remain restricted for longer. Roughly a fifth of the world’s daily supply of oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the waterway before US-Israeli airstrikes at the end of February unleashed the latest escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they would ban ships linked to Israel from the Red Sea after Israel renewed its military attacks on Iran, adding to concerns about global shipping and energy flows.
In the face of the supply crisis, a sub-group under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Sunday agreed on its fourth oil output target increase in four months. The seven members decided to increase targets by 188,000 barrels per day from July, the same as the June hike, which was adjusted down from monthly increases of 206,000 barrels per day in May and April to take into account the exit of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On paper, the sub-group has increased its output quotas from April to June by almost 600,000 barrels per day, but in reality, the group’s production has collapsed due to export cuts by Gulf members, averaging 33.19 million barrels per day in April compared with 42.77 million barrels per day in February.
Saudi Arabia has cut its official selling prices for crude oil to Asia in July for a second month.
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