Accounting practices are aiding fraud and corruption in the country, the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors of Nigeria (CIFIAN) has said.
The protem president of CIFIAN, Dr Enape Ayishetu, who disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, added that it is wrong for financial accountants to regulate the preparation of corporate financial accounts, perform the audit and at the same time conduct the forensic and investigative audit of corrupt and fraudulent accounting practices thereof.
“The law was even helpless in the case of collapsed banks in Nigeria which were audited by some accounting firms because no act empowers them to carry our fraud investigation.
“Forensic and investigative auditors’ work starts where traditional auditors’ stopped. We are fraud auditors, and our type of audit is different from that of accountants or traditional auditors,” Dr Enape said.
She said fraud and fraudsters had gone sophisticated and now engaged digital technologies to perpetrate fraud.
‘’In this case, our system requires a forensic and investigative auditing which has to do with use of science and technology for fraud prevention and detection.
‘’There is a need for a paradigm shift. For this reason, the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors of Nigeria has arisen in Nigeria to salvage the Nigerian economy from total collapse.
‘’Enough of using analogue in handling serious issues in Nigeria, because this is an era of technology which our nation must key into in order to compete in the global market,” the CIFIAN president said.
She appealed to the House of Representatives to pass the CIFIAN Bill pending before it.
