IN every profession, there are ethics. These involve quality or standards of service, fidelity, community or corporate social responsibility, development of the profession,etc; each according to its peculiar demands. There is no way our country can get out from the doldrums without the positive contributions of our professionals. But,viewed from what they have done so far, they have not lived up to expectations, in other words, they have failed the people.
Just as one can blame the lawyers for the failure in the judiciary, behind the failure of every big business is an accountant. It is the accountant’s duty to trace the income, marry it with expenditures or out flows and declare profit for the organisation. Without the action or inaction of the accountant, it is impossible for any chief executive or official to steal. The accountant can manipulate the books and designate any expense appropriately as legitimate and this cannot be query it.
The shirking of professional responsibilities cut across all professional groups. It is therefore not surprising that our very esteemed medical professionals, the group that is most revered in the manner of priests is now only remembered for the numerous strikes they embark on yearly and for their shylock tendencies when attending to patients. We shall revisit the state of our medical profession some other time. Our focus here is on how the accountants have helped to run our economy into troubled waters. Like the leopard, they never change their spots; when they get caught in one area, they find ways to metamorphose into other areas; failed banks,pension funds, defence contracts, various government accounts and now the very hot NNPC.
Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, GMD, NNPC
Everything about accounting is founded on incomes and expenditures. We receive incomes and incur expenses daily. When the expenses have grown beyond what comes in as income, the organisation is treading on dangerous grounds and when we face such situations, the duty of the accountant is to sound the alarm to all concerned. The question then is; why have the accountants in our various government agencies and parastatals kept quiet in the face of obvious accounting abuses? Why have they failed to draw the lines when the danger signals came up? Why must they flout the ethics of the profession which demand accountability and openness amongst many others? The answers to these questions are very important because no matter how we try to change the system for better, if the professionals refuse to tag along, we have failed.
The NNPC for instance has an abundance of qualified chartered accountants at the management levels and across boards. Why has it become so difficult to reconcile the accounts of that sector? It is obvious that greed have rendered all attempts at best practices in our public service useless. Everyone wants to build his own house and allow the country to go up in flames.
That is why all the excitement about the forensic audit of the NNPC and other key agencies must be done with utmost caution because we have seen it all before. The auditors cannot see beyond the facts and documents that are presented to them. Therefore, before they come calling, the process has been defeated. When those in charge of the process agree to open up without inhibitions the purpose will be achieved but this is hardly done in all instances because of the fear of protecting jobs and interests.
Secondly the auditors being asked to undertake the forensic audit in the system are probably friends and colleagues of the resident accountants in our corporations and they must have done one favour or the other to one another in the past, which they are obligated to pay back. Therefore, the comradeship factor will jeopardise a clean report. This is why all the trials involving past bank executives have hit dead ends, except for those who reached consensus agreements.
It is instructive to note that the accountants will always introduce a caveat in their reports, stating the limitations in reaching a truly reflective conclusion, like the last forensic audit carried out on the NNPC account.
It is therefore our burden as it affects the NNPC and similar government agencies that; the more we try to dig into the rot that is in place, the more confused it becomes, because the professionals will always introduce their jargons.
The solution therefore is to make the process as simple as possible. I have suggested in the past that all previous accounts that have question marks be placed on hold while investigations continue on them to unravel the puzzles, while a fresh account is opened, beginning with this government. The account should contain simple rules in operating and regulating and above all; open to scrutiny by all and sundry.
The investigations should be done by the enforcement agencies as against professional auditors who will only end up with professional jargons. That way, we save the huge cost of engaging them.
If the rules are made simple for everyone to understand and open to independent verifications, the level of our accounting misdemeanour will be diminished.
It is time for us to salvage our common destiny.
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