The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Finance, Pierre Titti yesterday, March 28 at a meeting of the Committee on Constitutional Laws, defended the bill relating to the practice of the accounting profession and the functioning of the National Association of Professionally Qualified Accountants of Cameroon (ONECCA).

This was in the presence of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Gregoire Owona.

The Committee on Constitutional Laws chaired by Hon Zondol Herssesse did a substantive study of the bill. The Finance and Budget Committee had earlier examined the bill relating to the practice of accounting profession and the functioning of ONECCA to give its opinion before the substantive study of the bill by the Committee on Constitutional Laws.

The bill seeks to broaden the scope of Cameroon’s accounting legislation by correcting the shortcomings of the previous laws that have become obsolete in the light of the evolution of the profession at sub-regional and global levels. It contains key innovations by uniting all professional accountants, thus including all specialised personnel involved in the financial information production line, be they salaried or independent players. The bill takes into account the need to standardise the accounting profession at the regional and international levels (OHADA system), and opens the profession to the business world which is more concerned with the need to align business performance with trust and sincerity in the processing of financial information.

Government argues that the adoption of the bill will make it possible to substantially improve State revenue through the payment of more equitable taxes resulting from increased sincerity in filing corporate financial statements, compiling more reliable national statistics and mobilising the necessary funding for the national economy.

Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee on their part, adopted the report on the bill to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the convention on cluster munitions, adopted in Dublin on 30 May 2008 and the report on another bill to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the Niger Basin Water Charter, adopted in Niamey, Niger on 30 April 2008.