LICPA gets new leadership

The Liberia Institute of Certified Public Accountants or (LICPA) has held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elected new corps of officers to steer the affairs of the institution for the next two years.

Those elected over the weekend at the workshop in Monrovia include: Mr. Arthur Fumbah, President; Mr. Paul Collins, Vice President; and Mr. Taweh Veika, Head of the Council of Members.

President-elect Fumbah, got involved with the LICPA in 2007, when he worked with Mr. Sam Mombo, then Executive Director of the institute, to raise funds for the hosting of  the Council Meeting of the Association of Accountancy Bodies of West Africa (AWBA) in Liberia.

The immediate outcome of that meeting held in Liberia was a contribution of US25, 000 from Nigeria and US$10, 000 from Ghana, including equipment worth US$1, 400 from the Women Accountants of Nigeria to set up the current office of the LICPA.

The election, which was highly competitive, saw Mr. Fumbah narrowly winning the Presidency with 19 votes while the institution’s outgoing President Nim’ne Mombo, accumulated 18 votes out of 37 eligible voters.

During the process, the Vice President-elect and head of Council of Members both won on their positions on white ballots due to the fact that there weren’t any other name put out for those positions.

Speaking to journalists after the election over the weekend, the President-elect Fumbah noted that he was happy to be elected to steer the affairs of the body of professional certified public accountants for the next two years.

According to him, his election was not a surprise because of his hard work with the outgoing leadership in making several achievements as well as improving the professional body.

Fumbah said he brings to the LICPA professional, academic and long years of public service, and promised to improve the organization’s engagement with government, stressing that relationship with the government in the past has not been very favorable.

He also promised to ensure that the institution fits in the government’s de-concentration program, which he noted, will add value to the profession and also attract others. 

The new LICPA Boss promised to strengthen the syllable integration program of the institution and also collaborate with accounting syllables at various universities here to strengthen and broaden the capacities of students studying Accounting.

He also assured that his administration will ensure that cost of the LICPA’s Exam for certified accountants is affordable in order to increase students’ enrollment into the program.

At the same time, Vice President-elect, Paul Collins, who won on white ballot, promised to work with his elected colleagues to improve the growth of the institution by implementing those policies that are of interest to the LICPA.

 Mr. Collins stressed that here are more works to be done within the institution, especially with the issue of bringing more students onboard to learn about Certified Public Accounting.

“My dream is to have more Certified Public Accountants in our country and this can only be done when we have more students,” he said. For his part, the outgoing President of LICPA, Mr. Mombo said in order to reduce the high rate of corruption in the country; there is a need to build the capacity of Certified Public Accountants.

“We cannot deal with corruption issues in the country, if those who, are responsible to carry on audits are not qualified,” he emphasized. He noted that corruption can only be eliminated when auditors are well trained, but the increase in corruption can be widely attributed to the low capacity of most auditors in the country.

The outgoing LICPA boss said the annual meeting, which brings together professional Certified Public Accountants, is intended to discuss the institutions activities including its finances and the implementation of its activities in the country

By Lewis S. Teh