How we scaled IFRS hurdles – Royal Exchange boss

Mokwunye

 

 

Chuks Udo Okonta

Royal Exchange Plc is one of the few underwriters that have scaled the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) hurdles at a time many are still running to and fro the office of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). The Group Managing Director of the company, Chike Mokwunye in this interview with the Editor, Inspenonline, Chuks Udo Okonta, speaks on how the firm passed the herculean examination.

How did Royal Exchange scale the herculean International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) hurdles? 

Royal Exchange has been known for its prudence. Because of this, we did not have much to change, as IFRS requires disclosure. Since we did not have anything to hide, it was quite easy for us to get the accounts ready without much hassle.

A lot of things have to do with having the right focus, planning and the right personnel. We took time to train our people, engage consultants, with that, our people on their own were able to get part of the statements of account ready before the auditors came.   

How would the lessons you learnt impact your present account?

 The major thing we have learnt is that we all now have the skill required to prepare international financial reporting standard account. To acquire the skill, we did a lot of training and sensitisation. Because IFRS is a management thing, it became compulsory for everybody to be involved in it. IFRS is not the type of account that you just leave the accountants to do. The managing director and the managers are all involved in the preparation of the account. So, we are going to build on what we have done. We are not going to start afresh, but build on what we have acquired in making our subsequent accounts ready as expected.

To what extent has Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) impacted your operations?

The initiative has impacted our operations in a lot of ways. Looking at the local content policy, it has impacted on oil and gas business tremendously. Again, the implementation of the no premium no cover has impact on our business, especially in terms of liquidity. It has helped resolved the issue of receivables which has been a major problem in the industry. Overall, we would say, if those initiatives were implemented and enforced, insurance penetration would have been over 10 folds. The government has to enforce the laws, for NAICOM is not a law enforcement agency. It has done its best. It is left to the government to enforce the law. For instance, third party vehicle is a compulsory insurance under the law, but we have never seen anybody prosecuted and jailed for not having the policy. People must take responsibility for their actions and until we have such, we are likely never going to have people take up insurance. The MDRI is good for the industry, but the government has to play its part, which is enforcement of the laws.