{"id":23667,"date":"2025-10-20T05:56:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aaag.africa\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=23667"},"modified":"2025-10-20T05:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:56:59","slug":"acoa-2025-conference-kigali-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/event\/acoa-2025-conference-kigali-rwanda\/","title":{"rendered":"ACOA 2025 Conference, Kigali \u2013 Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joining Forces at ACOA 2025: AAAG and Partners advance PFM Strategy for Africa\u2019s Shared Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n

From 6th\u00a0<\/sup>to 9th<\/sup>\u00a0May 2025, Kigali, Rwanda played host to the 8th Africa Congress of Accountants (ACOA 2025), a landmark event that brought together more than 2,000 professional accountants from across the continent and the globe to shape the future of the accountancy profession. The Association Chairperson and Accountant General of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Ms Malehlohonolo Mahase, led a delegation of her counterparts: Mr Jean Baptista Sande (Rwanda), Ms Taina Nankela (Namibia), Mr Jona Wala (Kenya), and Mr Edwin Zvandasara, (Zimbabwe). Others included Mr Steven Ojambo and Mr. Adddow Abbas who stood in for Uganda\u2019s and Somalia\u2019s Accountants General respectively.<\/p>\n

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AAAG\u2019s presence was marked by engagements in uniting voices for stronger and integrated Public Financial Management. Ms. Mahase presented AAAG\u2019s prioirties for strengthening public financial management, highlighting the pivotal role of Accountants General in addressing systemic weaknesses. In her address, she emphasized that adopting accrual-based IPSAS is a fundamental step for countries seeking to strengthen financial governance, manage public resources more efficiently, and achieve sustainable development. She also emphasised that sustainability initiatives in the public sector is no longer a peripheral concept in public-finance management but a practice that has fundamentally reshaped the lens of fiscal stewardship to encompass environmental, social, and governance dimensions.<\/p>\n

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Rwanda\u2019s Accountant General, Mr Jean Baptista Sande, shared a remarkable success story of transformation in public financial management. In fiscal year 2024, his office achieved a 92% rate of unqualified (clean) audit opinions across more than 200 public-sector entities; a milestone that underscores the country\u2019s unwavering commitment to transparency and accountability. Central to this success is Rwanda\u2019s nationwide rollout of an in-house Integrated Financial Management Information System, which now underpins every stage of the government\u2019s accounting and PFM operations. At the same time, Rwanda has become one of the few countries to fully adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), further elevating the credibility of its financial reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Also speaking at high-level panel, AAAG\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fredrick Riaga, called for a fundamental shift in how governments view their Accountants General. He reminded delegates that, as Chief Financial Officers of their respective governments, Accountants General are entrusted with managing public funds, safeguarding economic governance, and driving sustainable development. Yet all too often, their expertise is relegated to the back office where they merely are perceived as \u201cpaymasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Riaga called on governments to elevate Accountants General to the status of strategic advisors on financial and fiscal matters, partners at the table when policies are conceived, not just executors after the fact. After all, every policy decision carries a financial implication, and early involvement of the Accountant General is the surest way to guarantee its fiscal viability and reinforce sound governance.<\/p>\n

Building Bridges Through Stakeholder Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Separate from the formal sessions, ACOA 2025 also served as fertile ground for stakeholder engagement behind the scenes. AAAG held a series of collaborative discussions with the African Development Bank, the Global Fund, the\u00a0Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy<\/em>\u00a0(CIPFA), Academics and Accountants Generals from non member countries to align mutual objectives for strengthening financial governance across African countries. These engagements also culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CIPFA.<\/p>\n

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#ACOA2025 #AAAG #PublicFinance #PFM #Leadership #AfricaAccountants #ContinentalUnity #MoU #FinancialGovernance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joining Forces at ACOA 2025: AAAG and Partners advance PFM Strategy for Africa\u2019s Shared Vision From 6th\u00a0to 9th\u00a0May 2025, Kigali, Rwanda played host to the 8th Africa Congress of Accountants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23570,"template":"","meta":{"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[17],"class_list":["post-23667","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tribe_events_cat-conference","cat_conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/23667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/23667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23667"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omegadesignslimited.co.ke\/RISE\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=23667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}