Africa Business Communities

[BLOG] Arise O compatriots, Nigerians Call for A-Sox (African Sox Legislation)

by, Adewale Ademokunla.

The SOX Act (Sarbanes-Oxley), named after the two senators who headed the promulgation of this legislation, was an act of congress signed into law by the U.S.A President George W. Bush in 2002.  The objective of this act is to have internal controls on steroids regarding financial statements reporting from an oversight, transparency and accountability standpoint.

America and Europe didn’t see the control bullet coming; otherwise they probably would have dodged to avoid a hit and the consequent catastrophes from world-class corporations like Enron, WorldCom, and Wall Street.  These corporation control failures and the aftermath financial meltdown resulted in one of the world’s biggest financial crises and recession of our time.

 Africa had its own share of this economic meltdown no doubt. Close to home, Nigeria recently experienced one of the biggest stock market collapses in the history of our nation.  The wound and sore of these financial losses is yet to heal in many homes.

America and Europe were first responders to address this global phenomenon by promulgating SOX 404 & 302 act of congress, followed by their European counterpart version of the American SOX was the E-SOX.  On a proactive note, the Japanese are smart to legislate the J-SOX to avoid same catastrophe.  Therefore, my question is: Why is anyone not talking about (A-Sox) for Africa?

The recent huge migration of Chinese businesses and citizens into Africa proves that Africa has great potentials.  The introduction of A-Sox would increase confidence in African stocks and financial markets, hence drive more world powers to invest in our emerging market.  Nigeria has the opportunity to take the lead on the African Sox initiative. It could then use her blueprint to help and work with other African countries as a role model to develop the Africa (A-Sox) version.

The Nigerian senate needs to deliberate on the A-Sox initiative and finally pass an A-Sox act into law.  This would change the Nigerian control environment landscape. Creating the right tone at the top by the Federal Government of Nigeria and other African countries will go a long way to improve our current control culture in the continent, promote good governance, and increase transparency and accountability on financial reporting in both private and public sectors.

 

Ade Ademokunla, MBA, CIA, CFE, CSOE, CRMA

 Africa managing partner & CEO @ Resource Result Ltd.

E-mail – adewale@resourceresult.com

Website – www.resourceresult.com

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