The Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) has been elected to the presidency of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA). At its meeting of Friday July 19, 2013, the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) elected Mr. Nim'ne E. Mombo, Sr., current President of the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) as President of the Association.

He succeeds Mr. Kofi Ekon, President of ONECCA Togo (Institute of Chartered & Certified Accountants of Togo) whose term of office in that post expired June 2013. The presidency of ABWA and other positions are vested in a member institute, rather than a particular individual, provided the individual who is elected to the post is the current President (or where applicable, the Acting President) of a member body of ABWA.

Prior to his election as President of ABWA, Mr. Mombo, in his position as the current President of the LICPA, served as the Vice President of ABWA. For reasons of practicality, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) puts forward a member of that institute to serve as Executive Secretary (ES) of ABWA, subject to approval of the Council of ABWA. The ES heads the Secretariat of ABWA, which is located in Abuja, Nigeria.

In keeping with the standing tradition of ABWA, the formal investiture of Mr. Mombo into office will take place at the next Annual General Meeting of the Association in October, 2013. Investiture, a common practice within the British sphere of influence, involves a formal handing over of the trappings of office.

This is done by a custom-made emblem of authority around the shoulders of the inductee. Such formal induction is done only at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association. The next AGM is scheduled for October, 2013. The LICPA President will serve as President of ABWA for two years, i.e., until June, 2015. Thereafter, the Presidency of ABWA shall pass to another whom, per the constitution of ABWA, must be from a French-speaking member country.

The Constitution of ABWA (as revised February, 2013) requires rotation of the positions of President and Vice President of the Association between English speaking and French¬ speaking member bodies of ABWA. On this basis, whenever the President of ABWA is from a member institute whose national official language is French, it is mandatory that the Vice President must be elected from among member institutes whose national official language is English and vice versa.

Although the LICPA joined ABWA very early during the foundation years of the Association, this is the first time that the Liberian Institute has assumed the Presidency of ABWA. Liberia's 14 year civil war was in large measure responsible for that delay principally because the LICPA was, for all practical intents and purposes, inactive during that period.

Under the Constitution of ABWA (as revised February, 2013), whenever the President of the Association is from an English speaking country, the Vice President is required to be the official representative of a French-speaking country; and vice versa. The Accountancy Bodies of West Africa (ABWA) was inaugurated in 1982. It is comprised the national Professional Accounting Organizations (PAOs) of all member states of ECOWAS, and is the only regional body of the Accounting Profession in West Africa.

In 2012, ONECCA-Cameroon, the national Professional Accountancy Organization of Cameroon, requested and was granted admission to ABWA even though Cameroon is located in central Africa. ABWA, headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria, is a founding member of the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA), which is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Individual national members of ABWA also have direct membership in PAFA. Similarly, the member institutes of PAFA also have direct membership in the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which is the highest authoritative standard setting accounting organization in the world.

Commenting on his preferment as the current President of ABWA to members of the LICPA, Mr. Mombo remarked that the recognition and honor bestowed on him and the LICPA is ultimately for the benefit of young Liberian accountants. He explained that the better known and respected the LICPA is within and outside of Liberia, the more widely accepted and respected the professional accounting credentials the LICPA bestows on graduates of its credentialing programs are.