The Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) has announced the results of semiâ-'professional examinations administered in Liberia by the Institute under the auspices of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA).

According to an official release from the Institute, Mrs. Dekontee Kingâ-'Sackie, mother, homemaker, fullâ-'time employee and also fullâ-'time student of CU Graduate School, has at each sitting cleared all subjects in two of the ATSWA accounting exams that she has so far taken. Shortly after clearing Level 2 of the semiâ-'professional exam in one sitting, the young and audacious lady was appointed Commissioner of Customs at the Ministry of Finance.

However, owing to the pressures of her new job and the need to adjust to a new work environment, Mrs. Sackie did not take the recent ATSWA examinations that were administered in September 2009. Her failure to take that exam was said to be caused of serious disappointment for some examination authorities at the LICPA, who were confident that she would have broken record for Liberia had she taken the exam.

Mrs. Dekontee King-Sackie, who recently returned to Liberia from an official trip abroad is determined to sit Level 3 of the exam and hopes to also clear that level in one sitting as she has done for the first two levels of that semi-professional qualification program.

The Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) is comprised of 13 member institutes in West Africa - five English speaking countries (The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone); seven French speaking countries (Benin, Burkina Fasso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal) and one Portuguese speaking (Guinea Bissau) country. ABWA is the regional arm of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which is the highest accounting authority in the world.

In September 2009, the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) administered a series of semi-professional examinations to sixty six (66), [not 86 candidates as previously published], who aspire to join the ranks of professional accountants in Liberia. As explained by Mr. Nim'ne E. Mombo, Sr, the LICPA's Director of Training and Examinations, the exams taken in September 2009, were the third time such exams are administered in Liberia.

These exams are commonly referred to as the Accounting Technicians Scheme, West African (ATSW). For the LICPA, he said, the ATSWA exams constitute, the Foundation Level of a two-part Program that is designed to eventually qualify successful Liberian candidates as full Certified Public Accountants (CPAs).

Mr. Mombo further explained that the ATSWA exams are uniformly administered throughout Anglophone West Africa by national member bodies of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) of which the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants is a member.

The national institutes of four other English speaking West African countries are also members of ABWA. They include the Association of Chartered Accountants, The Gambia (ACAG); the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana (ICAG); the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Sierra Leone (ICASL). Currently, he further explained, the uniform exams are administered in Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia.

The Gambia and Sierra Leone are expected to come onboard in 2010. Exam questions are jointly selected from a pre-screened question bank by technical representatives of participating national institutes. Liberia is ably represented there.

The LICPA's Director of Training and Examinations further explained that the ATSWA exams are administered in each member country twice a year, in March and September of each year. Question papers are printed by the Nigerian mint, the same facility that prints Nigeria's national currency, the Naira, under strictly supervised security conditions.

Question papers for Ghana and Liberia are picked up from Lagos by a staff of the Examinations Division of the Ghanaian Institute who then proceeds to Liberia after dropping off the question papers for Ghana in Accra. Based on prior arrangements made by the LICPA with the Customs

uthorities of Liberia, the questions papers are cleared through Liberian customs without ever being opened in order to preserve their full integrity prior to scheduled administration of the exams. Upon arriving in Monrovia, the question papers are, also by prior arrangements made by the Liberian Institute, taken to a local bank where they are kept in the vault of that bank until just hours before the scheduled time for their administration. Following administration in Liberia the question papers are taken back to Accra, where they are marked, again under strict security conditions. Results for Liberia candidates are then electronically forwarded to examination authorities of the LICPA.

A Two Part Professional Qualification Program

As explained by the examination authorities of the LICPA, the ATSWA examinations comprise the Foundation Level of a rigorous two-'part professional qualification program, Foundation and Professional. The Foundation Program has three (3) levels with four subjects taken at each level, whereas the Professional Program has four (4) levels, also with four subjects at each level.

Those who successfully complete the ATSWA (Foundation Level) Program are automatically granted full exemptions from levels 1 and 2 of the Professional Program. They therefore only sit for levels 3 and 4 of the Professional exams, which are administered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (CAG).

According to the LICPA's Director of Exams, Liberian candidates who successfully complete the professional exams are then eligible to become Chartered Accountants, Ghana. They are then required to sit an additional paper in Liberian taxation. Successful pass in that paper additionally makes them eligible for admission into the LICPA as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs).

He commented that this makes Liberia the only place in West Africa, possibly in the only country in the world where successful candidates get double professional qualifications CA and CPA for the price of (as well as the time and the efforts expended) for one. Assuming that a candidate passes all subjects on first attempt at each level, the combined series of examinations, Foundation and Professional, can be completed in two and half years - eighteen (18) months for the Foundation Program and twelve (12) months for the Professional.

Exemptions

For candidates who take exemptions from parts of the Foundation Program, the time span from start to finish may be even less than that, again assuming that the candidate clears all subjects on first attempt for each level. Moreover, he explained, qualified candidates who so wish may skip the Foundation exams and go directly into the Professional Program. He also emphasized, the LICPA together with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana will grant appropriate exemptions to those who are technically eligible for such exemptions and so choose, on the basis of such exemptions, to go directly into the Professional Program.

Meanwhile, according to results released by the examination authorities of the LICPA, 13 students passed all subjects while 14 students passed in three subjects of the ATSWA Level 1, ATSWA Level 2 results. Also, the results show that 10 students passed in two subjects, 9 students in one subject and 5 students passed none.

The lone candidate who cleared Level 2 is Mr. Moses Francis, who is currently a senior auditor in a local firm of Certified Public Accountants. He will join Mrs. Decontee King-Sackey as candidates of the LICPA for Level 3, the final level of the ATSWA (Foundation) Program. Thereafter, they expect to move on to the professional level exams and hope to soon join the ranks of fully qualified professional accountants in Liberia.

At the same time, 13 candidates who have cleared Level 1 of the exams are Bettie, Kwatama Q. . Siafa, Abraham, Gbala, Jr., Kanio Bai, Talery, Darlingston Y. and Hill, Derek A. Others are Tanwone, Victor S., Joe-Joe, Steve, Taylor, Lawrence S. Kabba, David D., Thacker, Tom, Nyemmah, K. Quewan, 12. Wratoo, Nyane C. Jay and Norgbean Gaypia, S.

Commenting on the recent exam results, Mr. Sam Dargbe Monbo, Executive Secretary of the LICPA, said he is highly encouraged to see that 25 percent of Liberian candidates have cleared Level One of the exam, while another 27 percent has been referred in just one paper; and 20 percent referred two papers.

That calculates to a combined total of 72 percent of Liberian candidates who have passed two (2) or more papers, which is fifty percent or more of the four papers for level 1 of the ATSWA exam. Mr. Francis B. S. Johnson, President of the Institute also considers it gratifying that 34 percent of Liberian candidates have passed at least three (3) of the four papers for level 2 of the exam.

Deputy Minister of Finance for Expenditure, Hon. Arthur Fumbah, a member of the LICPA who qualified in Ghana has commented that he is quite pleased to see the progress being made by young Liberians in the field of accounting. He says that in his days the professional training and qualification opportunities that are now available to young Liberian were not there in those days.

That was what constrained him, Hon. Fumbah stated, to live in Ghana for several years in pursuit of a highly respected professional qualification. Why traveled to Ghana or elsewhere in search of what is now available right here at home to young Liberians? All they need to do is apply themselves.

Counselor T. Negbalee Warner, Head of Secretariat, Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), who teaches business law to Level One students of the ATSWA Program along with Mr. Kpetermeni Siakor, who also teach Information Technology to Level 2 students of the Program, both said they are proud to be part of so useful an empowerment program. They, along with Mr. Paul Collins, Head of Internal Audit, Central Bank of Liberia, who teaches Economics (Level 1) and Quantitative Analysis (Level 2) of the ATSWA Program; Mr. David Hopeâ-'Kana, senior staff of a local accounting firm; and Mr. Collins also urge young Liberians to make the best use of the opportunity provided them by the Liberian Institute.

Mr. Chris Sokpor, a World Bank expert at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Anthony Kumi, of USAID Liberia; Mr. Alex Natty along with Ms. Adwoa Adaépomah, both of whom are attached to the Ministry of Health as expatriate experts as well as Mr. Daniel Quampah, also previously attached to the Ministry of Health; and Mr. William Atuilik, expatriate expert currently attached to the Ministry of Finance for the development of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for Liberia; are expatriate Instructors in the LICPA's ATSWA Program in Liberia.

They are Ghanaian and all are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana. Each considers it a joyful privilege to be associated with the Liberian ATSWA Program. Mr. Dorbor Jallah, Deputy Minister of Planning, a recent graduate of MIT and Harvard Universities in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA has now joined the Program as Instructor of Quantitative Analysis for Level 2 candidates.