A learning workshop was held in Nairobi, Kenya on September 28, 2006, for a two- day period. The workshop was sponsored by the African Development Bank and co-sponsored by the World Bank and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The workshop aims to combat poverty and develop a stable economy. Moreover, representatives of the accountantacy profession, governments, donor community, and academia attended the workshop.
The main issues which were discussed at the meeting were, achieving quality financial reporting, the needs of the accountancy profession in the region, the role of the government in accountancy and accountancy development, and the importance of sustaining good governance and ethics.
Participants in the meeting recommended the following:
• Reform and strengthen institutional frameworks for corporate reporting;
• Build accountancy capacity in the private and public sectors, including the development of established educational guidelines for accounting technicians;
• Establish contact and begin development of the accountancy profession in those African countries where the profession is not yet established; • Assist regional and national professional bodies to access donor funds; and
• Support the “Nairobi Declaration”, signed by over 30 professional bodies, which calls for the creation of a Pan-African Federation of Accountants.
Ndung’u Gathinji, Chairman of the IFAC Developing Nations Committee stated,
“This Workshop represents the first major collaborative effort between IFAC and development agencies to address the development of the accounting profession on the African continent.”
One of the major outcomes of the Workshop was the establishment of an Africa Focus Group which will coordinate dissemination and follow-up activities for the recommendations identified at the Workshop.
IFAC is the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serve the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies
For more information please visit the following website: www.ifac.org