The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Major General Sebastian Owuama, FCA is leading not less than 369 chartered accountants  from the West African Sub region to join their counterparts from all over the world for  the World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) 2010 holding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  from today till Thursday will hold between November 8 and 11, 2010.

Owuama who is the 46th President of ICAN and the 16th President of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) left the country earlier in the week in company of key members of ICAN.

The congress which is organized by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) is held every four years and the theme of this year’s edition is “Accountants: Sustaining Value Creation”.

The congress will explore issues relating to key areas that directly or indirectly affect the continued relevance of the professional accountant in the years ahead.

The Immediate Past President of ICAN and ABWA, Chief (Mrs.) Elizabeth Adegite, and a fellow of the Institute who is the Regional Manager Financial Management African Region of The World Bank, Mr. Edward Olowo-Okere are part of the speakers at the Concurrent Session 1 of the conference.

While Adegite will speak on “Strengthening the Accounting Profession in Emerging Economies”, Olowo-Okere will discuss “Accounting Technicians – The Building of the Financial Reporting Chain”.

Apart from the main theme, the congress will feature four Plenary Sessions and five Concurrent Sessions. Topics to be discussed under the plenary sessions are: “Accountants: Sustaining Value Creation in the Borderless Economy”; “Islamic Finance: Strengthening the Global Financial Market”; “Accounting for Sustainability: The Integrated Reporting Framework”; and “Accountants in the Next Decade: Embracing Change and Seizing Opportunities (Interview Session)”. The five Concurrent Sessions are divided into 35 topics cutting across various areas of accounting, audit and management.
Commenting on the Congress, Owuama who is the 46th President of ICAN and the 16th President of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) says said,  “Apart from the opportunity for ICAN members to  make contributions at the various technical sessions, the world congress also enables them  meet most influential and innovative minds in business, finance, policy, standards setters and decision makers from all over the globe; exchange ideas on the latest business trends and global economic developments whilst updating knowledge of standards”. According to him, “such interactions will benefit the Institute and its members in terms of insight and first hand information from renowned business leaders which will impact not only the policy thrusts of the Institute, but also the services rendered by members to their clients.”
ICAN was established by the Act of Parliament No 15 of 1965, and empowered to set standards of knowledge and skill to be attained by persons wishing to become members of the accountancy profession. The Institute, which is the only Nigerian member of IFAC, has 30,000 members and over 120,000 students on its registers and conducts examinations twice in a year. Its vision is to be a leading global professional body while its mission is to produce world-class Chartered Accountants regulate and continuously enhance their ethical standards and technical competence in the public interest.
In all its years of experience, the examinations have been conducted without leakage. Since it came into existence about forty five years ago by the Act of Parliament No. 15 of 1965, ICAN has been the premier professional Institute in Nigeria, producing world-class professionals, making tremendous contributions to the nation’s development through its strict maintenance of high standards and regulation of the Accountancy profession. The Institute has also been rendering excellent services to various parts of the country through its forty five districts across the states of the federation as well as in the United of America and the United Kingdom. From time to time, the Institute raises its standards in line with the provisions of IFAC, which is the umbrella association for accountancy bodies all over the world.