ICPAU to weed out quack accountants

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) has embarked on the process of fishing out quack accountants from public and private organisations.

This was revealed by ICPAU President, Frederick Kibedi, while answering questions from journalists during release of ICPAU examination results at Kampala Imperial Royale Hotel on Wednesday.

He said ICPAU is mandated by law to protect organisations from being infiltrated by unqualified accountants.

“Quack accountants are those people with no practicing license, issued by ICPAU. We have notified all public and private organisations not to employ accountants not recognised by ICPAU”, he said.

He pointed out that institutions which will not comply with the directive will also be held liable by the law governing accounting in Uganda.

“ICPAU has in addition carried out sensitisation campaigns within the business community to let them know the importance of employing licensed accountants," he said.

While releasing the May 2019 examination results, Public Accountants Examination Board (PAEB) Chairperson, Keto Kayemba, said a total of 6,324 candidates attempted the examinations compared to 6,202 candidates in November 2018.

“In terms of gender, 56 per cent of those who passed were female and 43 per cent were male”, she said.

She mentioned that majority of those who passed are in the age bracket of 18-24 years. She pointed out that the May 2019 examinations were carried out in seven centres of; Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Kampala, Mbale, Mbarara and Nkozi.

The courses examined on were: Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD), Certified Tax Advisor (CTA) and Certified Public Accountants (CPA).