BICA

The Accountants Act which was successfully adopted by Parliament seeks to establish the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants under the new name of the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) and entrust it with the responsibility to register professional accountants, certified auditors and member firms. Key to the Act is the introduction of the principle of public interest protection by making mandatory for the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants to report on its performance annually to the Botswana Accountancy Oversight Authority (BAOA). The Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants is specifically required to state what initiatives it has carried out during the year to protect public interest. Another major addition to the Act is the establishment of Botswanas own professional qualification. Since professional accountants in Botswana are a mixture of professionals from across the globe dominated by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, this will be a significant change as Botswana will now have its own internationally recognized qualification which addresses the economic needs of Botswana. Therefore, Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants qualification will allow it to come up with its own curriculum based on its own circumstances and the needs of its own economy such as for example making provision for public sector financial reporting.