API Supports The AAAG Agenda – ISC Meeting Held – Abidjan, Côte d’ Ivoire
The API took part in the African Association of Accountants General – AAAG Interim Steering Committee (ISC) meeting held recently in Côte d’Ivoire. The head of the API, Evans Mulera took part in the meeting as a representative of the Pan African Federation of Accountants (a partner organisation to the API) – PAFA.
PAFA and API fully supports the African Association of Accountants General – AAAG objectives and aspirations. PAFA took part in the AAAG Interim Steering Committee – ISC – meeting held in Côte d’Ivoire from 26 to 30 September 2022. The PAFA CEO was represented at the meeting by Evans Mulera, The head of the African Professionalisation Initiative – API. The GIZ took part in the meeting as a long-standing supporter of good finance governance initiatives in Africa. The meeting considered strategies and actions necessary to strengthen the impact of Accountants General for Africa’s development in line with the . The African Union supports the aspirations of the AAAG.
The meeting was convened to discuss the progress on the formation of the AAAG as it transitions from ESAAG – The Eastern and Southern Africa Association of Accountants General. Participating Accountants General and their representatives came from Zambia, Côte d’ Ivoire, Chad, Kenya, Lesotho, Morocco, Burkina Faso and Uganda. The delegation of Accountants General had an opportunity to visit the Côte d’ Ivoire Ministry of Public Treasury and discussions were held with senior Ministry officials led by the Director General for Public Treasury.
The Accountants General also had an opportunity to meet with the representatives of WAEMU, the West African Economic and Monetary Union. Among other participants at the meeting was representation from GIZ with rich contributions from the GIZ representative, Mr. Zolani Sandiso Zonyane.
The meeting adopted a hybrid format – with some participants joining virtually – and received progress updates on the AAAG strategy, membership and capacity building model. The discussions focused on building long-term sustainability for AAAG by focusing on public value creation, which will in turn drive trust and support from the public and key stakeholders, thus facilitating an effective funding model built around: donor funding, fees from courses and member subscriptions.
The meeting discussed the role of donor funding and recognised the need to strengthen engagement and partnerships with the donor community, thus maximising the impact of Accountants General on the realisation of the seven aspirations of the African Union Agenda 2063.
The meeting recognised the need for innovativeness in developing capacity building opportunities that includes running regional and continent-wide courses that will enhance the strategic competencies of staff in accountants’ general offices as well as public sector accountants across Africa. A plan will be rolled out for running the courses. It was noted that the API will play a key role in the professionalisation of public sector accountants and auditors across Africa.
To stay relevant, sustainable and future ready, Accountants General (ESAAG now transitioning to AAAG); African Auditors General (AFROSAI-E & CREFIAF), and Professional Accountancy Organisations (PAFA) have partnered under the API to develop high-quality learning resources (Online learning platform – OLP – and internationally benchmarked and locally relevant study materials) to enhance public sector accounting and auditing competencies development in Africa. This will support countries to implement public sector accountancy certification programmes which are aimed at upskilling existing capacity while also developing a pipeline of future talent. The API will facilitate realisation of an African public sector capacitated with competent, ethical and influential professionals who support accountability, transparency and good financial governance to sustainably facilitate Africa’s socio-economic development.
The AAAG meeting also deliberated on membership subscriptions. A set of principles was considered to guide the determination of the subscriptions. The principles included: equity; new members (non-former ESAAG members) paying a lower fee initially then scaling up to the existing subscriptions rates; considering periodic reviews to be approved by the AAAG executive committee, relative to the prevailing and changing circumstances.
The meeting noted the need for the AAAG to clearly articulate the value creation for its members as a critical factor in inspiring new members to the group. A value proposition was presented, and it will be central to AAAG’s communication strategy. The deliverables under the value proposition will be mapped to clear measures of performance, to be tracked for progress reporting.
The meeting wound up with a trip to the political capital of Côte d’Ivoire – Yamoussoukro. Participants got an opportunity to visit the largest Christian church in the world as well as other attractions such as the Hotel President. Participants enjoyed the drive that stretched over 200 kilometres on a dual carriageway connecting Abidjan and Yamoussoukro. There is heavy construction work underway in Abidjan with a concentration on construction of new highways and ultra-modern highway interchanges that are set to be complete ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations that will be hosted by Côte d’Ivoire in early 2024.
PAFA supports the AAAG programmes and will continue to support its strategic success towards delivering solid value for the public. To this end, the AAAG requested PAFA for the following: Hosting of training on the role of the Accountants General; Sharing of the report of the PAFA PFM Workshop for Francophone Accountants General held in Togo; Assistance in the drafting of clear measures for the deliverables in the Strategic Plan; Assisting the AAAG with contacts of the Accountants General who attended the Togo Conference, among other things. PAFA is progressing support in these areas and more.