The young Liberian who passed the 2022 Chartered Accountants Exams administered by the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana (ICAG), has alarmed serious competence gap in Liberia, thereby urging youth to seek employment and capacity building skills to compete in the global market.
Speaking in an interview newsmen Thursday, January 5, 2023, at the ground of the Temple of Justice Peterson D. Tomah, said that Liberia is faced with serious competence gap because most youth are not preparing themselves with the relevant skills to compete in the job market.
“I want to encourage Liberians and the youthful population to take education and empowerment seriously because we have competence deficit in our country.
We are having serious competence gap, so, I want to encourage the younger folks to empower themselves because we’re getting to a place where education will pay a lot. Therefore, I want to encourage more young people to venture into accounting and other certificate programs in order to be among the elites,” Tomah urged.
The Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA) in Collaboration with Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) recently concluded its 2021/2022 flagship program in Liberia with only one person qualifying from Liberia to be certificated and license as a Chartered Accountant.
A chartered accountant (CA) is an international accounting designation granted to accounting professionals in many countries around the world, aside from the United States.
A CA credential typically proves that its holder has the qualifications to file a business’s tax return, audit financial statements and business practices, and offer advisory services to clients.
Peterson D. Tomah is the youngest Liberian amongst the many that sat the exam to qualify as a chartered accountant. Tomah emerged as the dux of the test administered.
Tomah is also a member of the Accounting Technicians Scheme West Africa (ATSWA). The Accounting Technicians Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) is a program designed to promote middle level accounting Technicians within the West African Sub-region.
Tomah narrated that the program is a very tedious program wherein, adding that he had eight papers to write because he already has a Bachelor Degree therefore, he was exempted from writing all of the papers in level one and two papers in level two.
According to him, the exam has three levels in which you have to pass the entire test in these levels before qualifying to be a certified and a licensed accountant to operate an audit or accounting firm both in Liberia and Ghana.
The young Liberian Accountant furthered that the chartered accountant license also allows its members to open an accounting or auditing firm both in Liberia and Ghana to give advisory services, tax, audit and other consultancy.
According to Tomah, the exam is administered three times every year semi seriously in Liberia and Ghana and other parts of the world.
Mr. Tomah among other things noted that LICPA is also expected to certify and place him on their website as a full flesh-chartered accountant and a member of the institution.
“When I started this program along the way, there were lots of people motivating me and I felt it is doable because I saw others Liberians doing it, Well, this program has no shortcut, the only thing one can do is total commitment that which enables me to go through this program successfully and knowing very well that failure is not an option, failure is not news but when you pass, you make the news, he added.
He however, said there were times that you will want to give up, but what keeps you strong and moving is your ability to stand up whenever you fall along the wayside.
“Well, I tell you, there will be a time that you’ll want to give up, there will be a time when you fail, you’ll want to give up but what keeps you strong and moving is your ability to stand up whenever you fall. It was very challenging, but you have to keep pushing,” Tomah lamented.
At the same the youngest Liberian Accounting Technician is calling on other young Liberians to pursue their goals in life in order to be better-off and contribute to the rebuilding process of the Liberian society, adding that Liberia has a competence gap that needs to be corrected.
Tomah also extended his heartfelt congratulations to each of the newly qualified accountants and successful candidates who successfully passed one or two papers, and those who wrote but were unsuccessful, noting that they should keep on trying and never give up.
Liberia is currently 132 most competitive nations in the world out of 140 countries ranked in the 2019 edition of the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum, and yet to beat competition to be ranked number one or take a better position in the following areas: Strength of auditing and reporting, Regulation of securities exchanges, and Efficacy of corporate boards.
It is therefore evident that we as a nation have not done much to preserve the financial integrity of our nation.
In 2018, the World Economic Forum introduced a new methodology emphasizing the role of human capital, innovation, resilience and agility, as not only drivers but also defining features of economic success in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
This report further reminds us that much is expected from us, and to achieve such expectations we should all contribute to the debate of professional services in every sector of our society.
