NCRIB trains brokers on IFRS

Chuks Udo Okonta

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has commenced training of its members on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to enable them comply with the new global accounting reporting format.

Declaring open the pilot training in Lagos, the President of the NCRIB, Ayodapo Shoderu, disclosed that the Council engaged the services of leading IFRS consultants under its shared services scheme to reduce the cost burden on individual operators.

He noted that the first tranche of the training incorporated brokers operating mostly in the Lagos axis, while the remaining tranches will hold in other zones, namely Abuja, Lagos and Enugu, and enjoined its members to check the website of the Council for their names and periods when their training falls due.

Shoderu opined that the IFRS was designed as a common global language for business affairs so that companies’ accounts are understandable and comparable across international boundaries.

“IFRS is a consequence of growing international shareholding and trade and are important for companies that have, or angling to have dealings in several countries, of which Insurance Brokers are critical interest groups to comply with the new trend,” he said.

He said the IFRS behoves on Accountants in broking firms to maintain books of accounts which are comparable, understandable and relevant, saying that the scheme required that operators be more transparent and meticulous in their financial accounting formats.

He asserted that: “We are all aware that the global environment in which we operate has posed greater challenges to us to be more ethical and eschew unprofessional conducts if we want to remain in business,” he noted.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel who spoke through an Assistant Director of the National Insurance Commission, Egwu Kenneth, commended the NCRIB for being the first insurance group in the country to take the initiative of shared services scheme under which its members are being trained for the IFRS. Similarly, the Lead Consultant of Netherwood Consulting,  Adeyemi Adetunji, said the new tempo of global accounting standards required that all business operators make their accounting and financial reporting transparent and that it was imperative for insurance professionals to imbibe the new reporting format,  considering the nature of insurance as  global business.