… ICAN, NIPA and ACCA also to be acccredited
The Namibian government is moving to place accountants, auditors and accounting technicians under a single regulator with expanded powers to inspect, investigate and discipline practitioners as part of a major overhaul of financial sector oversight.
Finance Minister Erica Shafudah on Tuesday tabled the Accountants and Auditors Regulatory Authority (AARA) Bill in the National Assembly, seeking to replace the country’s 75-year-old accounting law and establish a modern regulatory framework for the profession.
Under the Bill, accountants, auditors and accounting technicians will be required to register directly with the Accountants and Auditors Regulatory Authority (AARA) and obtain practising certificates before offering professional services.
The regulator will also be empowered to suspend or cancel registrations where professionals fail to meet the required standards.
The Authority will further gain powers to conduct inspections, perform quality assurance reviews, investigate misconduct and enforce disciplinary measures against practitioners and firms found to be in breach of professional standards or regulatory requirements.
In a significant shift for the sector, professional bodies such as ICAN, NIPA and ACCA will themselves become subject to accreditation, supervision and potential sanctions by the Authority, introducing a new layer of oversight over institutions that have traditionally regulated their own members.
The Bill also empowers the Authority to adopt and enforce international accounting and auditing standards, a move aimed at improving the quality, consistency and global comparability of financial reporting in Namibia.
A nine-member board will oversee the Authority, supported by a full-time chief executive officer and dedicated secretariat, while an independent Appeal Board will hear challenges to regulatory decisions.
The proposed legislation will repeal the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Act of 1951 and transform the existing Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board into the Accountants and Auditors Regulatory Authority, an independent body with jurisdiction over individual practitioners, firms and professional bodies.
The reforms come as the government seeks to strengthen financial accountability and improve confidence in corporate and public sector financial reporting amid increasingly complex auditing and compliance requirements.
According to the government, the reforms are necessary because the existing legal framework no longer reflects the realities of the profession, which has expanded beyond traditional auditing into areas such as forensic accounting, digital financial reporting, financial data analytics and sustainability reporting.
Shafudah said the legislation would close regulatory gaps, strengthen professional accountability and bolster investor confidence in Namibia’s financial reporting environment.
If passed, the Bill will create the most comprehensive regulatory framework yet for Namibia’s accounting and auditing professions, significantly expanding oversight powers while bringing all accounting practitioners under a single statutory authority.
