BICA moves to bring unregistered accountants to book

KEIKANTSE LESEMELA
Correspondent | Friday August 17, 2012 00:00

The Act requires that every person or entity providing professional accountancy or related services to the public, for either a salary or a fee should be registered with BICA for the purpose of regulation and monitoring.

Accordingly, it is illegal for professional accountants to provide professional services if not registered with BICA.

In an interview, Chief executive officer (CEO) of BICA, Duncan Majinda explained that BICA is engaging a lawyer, to handle the legal procedures against the offenders. 'Because we as BICA do not have the powers to take legal action against those that have not registered, we are still engaging a lawyer who will be handling the legal procedures against the culprits,' he said. He said a disciplinary committee would start acting against the offenders in the next couple of months, after sorting out legal procedures with the lawyer. Answering a question in Parliament last week, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo disclosed that currently there are only 31 government accountants registered with BICA.

Recently, Majinda reported a lot of accountants have not complied with the law, with government employees being the chief culprits. He said that government has not responded to the Act, noting that there are about 2, 000 public accountants.  The act was passed by parliament in 2010, to curb bogus or fly-by-night accountants in Botswana.

Speaking at the corporate workshop for BICA recently, MP for Gaborone West Robert Masitara said it was a deliberate move by the legislature to curb fly-by night accountants and this will attract foreign direct investment.

'A country with a sound financial reporting and auditing profession that complies with international standards, codes and procedures is perceived to have the potential to attract Foreign Direct Investment than a country which does not,' he said. He said the legislation was meant to strengthen the accountancy profession, protect public interest and give the institute's powers and responsibilities legislative recognition and backing.

'The legislature also felt that it was time that Botswana had its own professional accountancy qualification, the BICA,' he said.According to the regulation, flouting the law can attract a P500, 000 fine, 10-year imprisonments or both. Majinda also said the accountancy profession in Botswana has a lot of expatriates, so the mandate of BICA is to develop qualified citizen chartered accountants.