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"id": 196728,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196728/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Accountants Bill be now read a Second Time. Let me start by thanking the House for having given leave for this Bill to be read a Second Time and for accelerating the period for the publication of the Bill. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as Ms. Amina Abdalla mentioned, I am an accountant. I have had the privilege of serving the accounting profession in committees, and all the way to being the Chairman of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). Any interest that I would have in this Bill is within the wider definition of the public interest; to ensure that the accountant is accountable to the people; the profession has the respect that it deserves and has the regulations it requires to serve the people of Kenya. So, I would like to declare that interest. If that contradicts with the wishes of hon. Members, that will be coming out. I also want to say that the accounting profession in Kenya is one of the fastest growing 444 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 15, 2008 professions and, perhaps, in the whole Continent. Second to South Africa, Kenya has the largest concentration of accounting professionals in this continent. It is growing and I believe the number would now be standing at over 6,000. From a humble beginning, 30 years ago, when the Accountants Act was passed, we had just a few predominantly foreign accountants who were being registered and accelerated. The profession has now grown to a point where we can be proud to say that we now have a home grown body of accountants who are not just serving this country, but the region and the world. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that growth has come along with various challenges. What was relevant 30 years ago has obviously been overtaken by events. The world has changed! We have different operating issues, lessons have been learnt over the 30 years of the operations of the Accountants Act and about ten years ago, the drive to revive the profession and to review the regulations and laws governing it was initiated with broad-based consultations with all the stakeholders; being the examination body, the registration body, the players within the industry, the users of the accounting profession and the accountants themselves and a whole range of agreements have been reached since then, culminating in this Bill, that was scheduled for debate in this House last year. However, the House rose before the discussion of this Bill. So, this is not the first time that it is being exposed. It was published last year, but could not be debated. We are now re-introducing it so that the accounting profession can be brought in line with modern reality. As I said, this Bill basically proposes modernisation of the current Accountants Act, which is 30 years old. We want to bring it in line with the current realities. A very straight forward amendment is being brought in. There are no controversies. I wish to take the hon. Members through the fundamental changes coming through the Act so that, as they contribute and go through the Bill, the can add value to the debate. If they find that there is nothing we need to change, then we will be happy once it has gone through the Committee, to be passed by this House. Part I of the Bill basically contains all the preliminary provisions. They are self- explanatory. But Part II of the Bill provides for the establishment of ICPAK in terms of its definition. We already have the Institute, but we want to define what it should have in future. There is also the establishment of the Kenya Accountants and Secretaries Examinations Board, popularly referred to as KASNEB. What the Bill is trying to do with respect to ICPAK is to diversify the membership of those bodies to include persons who have responsibility of promoting accountability in the Government. We are not just restricting it to only those professions working within the private sector. Again, this is part of the wider objective of promoting accountability within our country and the wider Government. Under this Bill, the examinations body, which is KASNEB, will retain its powers and functions as provided for within the current Act. But it will have some additional powers to capture what has happened within the changes in the examination of accountants and the composition of the Board. We will be looking at some of those. Under the current Act, it was premised on a tripod kind of situation where we had the Institute, the examination body and a registration board; the three of them working in tandem where you pass the examination that are set by KASNEB, then go to the Registration of Accountants Board to be registered, then you become eligible to become a member of the Institute and, from then on, you are regulated. Looking through after all the consultations, it became very clear that the role of the Registration of Accountants Board was purely administrative and does not stop anyone from becoming an accountant. It has also, at times, became an impediment in promoting people who have passed and are eligible to be accountants from being registered. The proposal to bring it in line with other professions is to remove the Registration of April 15, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 445 Accountants Board, which is established by Section 11 of the current Act and replace it, acting as a separate body and subsume it within the institute as a registration committee. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that is what happens with the lawyers, engineers and other professions so that, the members of the institute you are joining can vet the quality of membership rather than just having a bureaucratic procedure of saying: \"We will not allow you to move to the next institute\", even when there is nothing to stop them from doing so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it then proposes that after the passage of this Bill, the Registration of Accountants Board will cease to exist as we know it. It will be replaced by the Registration Committee. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue that I would like to highlight is on Clause 22 of the Bill. Clause 22 provides that where a registered accountant intends to practice as a firm, sole practitioner or in a partnership, he shall apply to the Registration Committee for an annual licence. The committee will be vetting all the applicants to be registered within the Institute. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 25 of the Bill provides for persons who hold letters of authority to practise under the current Act to apply for registration within a period of 18 months after the commencement of the Act. This Bill does not then contain any provisions on the issuance of any due letters to practise which is a transitional arrangement under the current Act. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the import of this is that 30 years ago we did not have African accountants. The only accountants we had were those who had been authorised to actually practise. This was intended as a transitional arrangement after which they were then going to either join the institute through passing of exams and then become members like everyone else and be regulated. However, they continued in that arrangement until the transition period became permanent. Some of those have actually then ended up passing on to other successors to them without necessarily going through the route of having to sit for exams. This could well compromise the quality of accounting services and the accounting profession as we would like to see it happening today. So, to avoid that situation, we are then saying let all those who accountants practising as authorised accountants now regularise that situation within 18 months. If they do not do so, then they cease being accountants or authorised accountants. For those who are still surviving after the 30 years, once they have stopped, then they will no more be granted licences. At least, it is not something to be succeeded."
}