Finance Minister Erica Shafudah has tabled the Accountants and Auditors Regulatory Authority Bill.
 
The bill aims to strengthen financial accountability, promote integrity in financial reporting, and align Namibia's accounting and auditing professions with global accounting and auditing standards.
 
During Tuesday's National Assembly sitting, Shafudah pointed out that the accounting and auditing professions play a significant role in safeguarding the credibility of accounting information and added that the current legal framework is over seven decades old and no longer serves the complex realities of a modern economy.
 
“The accounting profession has expanded with images of experience such as forensic accounting, financial data analytics, and digital financial reporting. These developments require a modern and responsive regulatory environment. The review of the legal framework for the accounting and auditing professions is important and indeed necessary to ensure that the laws stay aligned with the current needs, issues, and challenges of the accounting and auditing profession.”
 
The Accountants and Auditors Regulatory Authority Bill is structured in 15 parts, each dealing with a distinct area of professional regulation, institutional governance, and public accountability.
 
These include preliminary and interpretative provisions, the constitution and governance of the new accountants' and auditors' regulatory authority, and how the authority will function and operate.
 
Debate on the Bill was postponed to next week Wednesday.