Corruption Destroys Values, Says CIMA Boss
The President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Mr. Andrew Miskin yesterday stressed the need to tackle corruption, not just in Nigeria, but in other countries across the globe.
Miskin, said this when he lead some members of CIMA in Africa and Nigeria on a courtesy visit to THISDAY’s corporate head office in Lagos.
“Corruption is always a problem. I have lived in many countries in the world and some of them are very high on the international corruption index, while some are low on the index,” he said.
According the CIMA boss, the real problem with corruption has to do with understanding its effects on the society.
“It is when people start to understand the value corruption destroys, that they would start to understand the decisions they make. “The type of corruption that really is a problem in countries is when you can bribe judges to get the result that you want in a legal case or to bride officials to take decisions which are favourable to your financial interest, rather than the overall benefits of the country. Those are the things that clearly destroy values,” he added.
Miskin, however, pointed that ethics is a core and integral part of what CIMA teaches and practices, saying that what was important is to help people understand the importance of values.
“You must make it clear why you need to tackle corruption and people must understand what the consequences are,” he said. He said management accounting is essentially about decision making in organisa- tions, while financial accounting is about record keeping, accounts and financial system, and capital markets.
According to him, CIMA looks forward to strengthening its relationship with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN).
The Associate Director, Nigeria, CIMA, Ijeoma Anadozie, said the institute has been investing a lot of money to research on best practices in management as well as to create the desired values in organisations. On his part, the Regional Director, Africa, CIMA, Badianga Badi Promesse, said: “When we (CIMA) train our accountants, there is a culture that we instil in them, a culture of honesty, a culture of transparency and ethics.