ADOPTION OF INTEGRATED REPORTING WILL HELP ACCOUNTANTS CREATE VALUE – SANWO-OLU

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that the adoption of integrated reporting by accountants in the state’s public service will help them to create better value and address challenges.

The Governor made this known during the 13th annual Public Lecture organised  by the Lagos Public Service Chapter of  ICAN held recently with the theme: ‘Value Creation in Public Service, Driven by Trust, Accountability and Sustainability,

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, State Treasury Office/State Accountant-General, Dr. Abiodun Muritala at the event, noted that accountants have a role to play in the value addition of public service to influence the effective and efficient use of resources at their disposal by high level of professionalism for effective decision-making through integrated reporting.

According to him, the public sector needs ways of broadening conversations about the services they deliver and the value they create not to meet short-term demand but for the longer term.   

In his words, “Integrated reporting will give all the public sector stakeholders an insight into how the public sector creates value and what resources are needed to contribute to current and future success”.

“Championing the adoption of integrated reporting in the public sector can help MDAs better address the challenges they face and gain a greater understanding of how they can create value for the public”, he added.

In his paper presentation, a retired Permanent Secretary in Lagos State, Mr. Biodun Bamgboye, said value is multifaceted and has different types, noting that it focuses on efficiency and effectiveness.

He stated that there is no value creation without emphasising the role of sustainability, adding that there are three principles individuals must possess to create value, namely: Value Gap, Creation of Products or Services that provide more value to the customer and Creation of Products that are easy to use and cost-effective.

He averred that accountants must understand the structure of the public service ecosystem to be able to deliver, saying “You must be selfless to create value by disengaging all silos and be able to undertake a wide range of roles to create value”.

The Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Lagos  Public Service Chapter, Taofeek Adeyanju said the theme of the lecture is apt, most especially at a time the Lagos State Governor is kick-starting a second term in office with a renewed hope and vision.

“Value creation, driven by trust, accountability and sustainability is germane to propelling the state economy to the peak of its trajectory of the development agenda”, he said.