East African Business Week

ENTEBBE, UGANDA- Accountants from the East African region over the weekend signed a mutual recognition agreement that will allow certified accountants to work in any of the five partner states without subjecting each other to further examination.
The accountants' signing followed that of lawyers and architects who earlier signed the EAC mutual recognition agreement.
Representatives from the five accountants' institutes, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, National Board of Auditors and Accountants of Tanzania and the Order for Professional Accountants of Burundi signed the Mutual Recognition Agreement.
However, according to Mr. Naru Thakkar, the president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda, effective 1 January 2012, accountants with Foreign Accountancy Qualifications (FAQs) will become full members of ICPAU only after sitting for examinations in business law.
"They will be subjected to business law paper 3 and taxation paper 11 of the CPA (U) syllabus," said Thakkar of the partner members with FAQs before being welcomed to Uganda membership.
"Holders of FAQs, who have not done an equivalent of auditing and other assurance services paper 15 will have to sit the paper," he added.
Thakkar gave the examples of Foreign Accountancy Qualifications as AICPA of the United States, CICA and ICGA of Canada, ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW, ICAS and ICAI of the United Kingdom, and ICAI of India. "All bearers of such qualifications after December 31 2011 will have to sit more papers," he noted.
Though the Architects did not entirely agree, with Tanzania referring the signing of the EAC Architects Mutual Recognition Agreement, the accountants according to Thakkar entirely agreed hence the signing.
"There were informal interactions before we agreed entirely so it was easy," supplemented Mr. Peter Rutaremara, the president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda.
Mr. Patrick Mtange, the Chairman of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya stressed that all partner countries agreed to the signing of the Mutual Recognition Agreement however with hope of further developing the accountancy profession in the East African Community countries.
Uganda's first deputy prime minister and minister for EAC affairs, Mr. Eriya Kategaya who witnessed the signing at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe during the ICPAU annual seminar said that EAC monetary union negotiations are in high gear spearheaded by the respective ministries of finance and central banks.
"I want to applaud all your initiatives, such initiatives are all in good spirit of fast tracking the EAC. They also reduce the costs of doing business. The monetary union negotiations are ongoing and I want to assure you that it will commence in 2012," said Kategaya.