LICPA To Host ABWA, ECOWAS-ABWA Joint Congress

By Bill W. Cooper
The Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) has been unanimously endorsed to host the next ABWA Council Meeting scheduled for March 23 or 24, 2019 and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) Joint Congress scheduled for November 2021.
The preferment came about due to the LICPA president’s recent visit to the Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) to attend the ECOWAS/ABWA Joint Inaugural Congress in Banjul, The Gambia where he was selected to Chair Plenary Section Two of congress from December 4-7, 2019.
Making the disclosure at his LICPA office in Monrovia, the LICPA president, Victor S. Tanwone said that the selecting of LICPA to host both sections was not an easy decision for both ECOWAS and ABWA to make as many other Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs) were also interested, bided and lobbied for the slot, emphasizing that after series of closed-door meetings and behind-the-scene lobbying, it was when the LICPA was unanimously endorsed to host both congress meeting.
Additionally, the LICPA president indicated, “I am also pleased to inform you that during my attendance at the 49th Annual Accountants’ Conference in Abuja Nigeria, I made an official request to the President and Council of The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Nigeria (ICAN) to conduct a Quality Review of our member firms on a pro bono basis and the request has been approved by the Governing Council of ICAN, while a team of expert will arrive in Monrovia in early January to conduct the review.”
He added, “As a person and President of the LICPA, these are massive and historic achievements for our noble institute, profession and Liberia as a whole in that, in the words of the ECOWAS Commissioner Representative relative to the ECOWAS/ABWA congress said, “The Gambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (GICA) has placed herself strategically within the programs of ECOWAS and other donors present at this Joint Inaugural congress for the able and professional manner in which the Congress was planned and executed.”
President Tanwone stressed, “We do understand that GICA is one of the smallest PAOs within the Sub-region but despite her size, her members zealously pulled out in their numbers and signed up for the Congress not considering the poor state of the nation’s economy and their own economic conditions. I am surprised to also know that some members who are on holidays or business trips outside the country did sign up and paid for their congress slot while absent; bravo to GICA. We take note of this.” Meanwhile, the LICPA president further expressed his disappointment in the LICPA members for their failure to sign up and attend the congress despite the leadership’s repeated and consistent publicity of the event via members’ emails and official communications to Public and Private Institutions like the MoFDP, GAC, CBL, LIBA and the Liberia Chambers of Commerce among others.
He then urged members to support the planned congress meeting in order to embrace the generosity of the ECOWAS Commission and ABWA for endorsing the LICPA to host both events, while at the same time wants them to pull out their energies and resources to make both events second to none in the history of ECOWAS and ABWA Congresses and also by emulating the approach of the members of the Gambia Institute of the Chartered Accountants (GICA).
“It is incumbent upon us as members of this noble and great global profession to showcase our abilities and capacities to position our dear Institute strategically among the communities of PAOs regionally and globally by coming out in our numbers by signing up for the event and participating actively,” proxy Tanwone averred.”