International relations
South African accountants and their Nigerian counter- parts have agreed to work together to promote the interests of the accountancy profession in the two countries.
The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Council for the Association of National Account- ants of Nigeria (ANAN) recently.
According to the memorandum, members of one body can now become members of the other, meaning South African professional accountants can practise in Nigeria and those who belong to ANAN will be able to practise in South Africa.
“Nigeria’s business environment is in strong growth mode and so offers South African professional accountants a great new market in which to operate,” said CEO of SAIPA Shahied Daniels.
Trade between the two countries stood at $30 million (approximately R267 million) in 2012. Nigeria has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies since 2001, and its gross domestic product is expected to average 6.8 per cent until 2015.
Daniels said SAIPA was looking forward to working closely with its Nigerian counterpart and together they would work on building reliable standards framework that will support bilateral trade and business. ANAN CEO Terkaa Gemade said the MoU between two of Africa’s leading economies was a step in the right direction and would strengthen accountancy on the continent.
“Africa is steadily building a business- friendly environment that is attractive to international investors and promotes intra-regional trade. This link between two leading professional accountancy bodies in Africa’s two most important economies is an important step in building that environment and offers potential to the members of both organisations,” Gemade added.
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