From 6th to 9th May 2025, Kigali, Rwanda played host to the 8th Africa Congress of Accountants (ACOA 2025), a landmark event that brought together more than 2,000 professional accountants from across the continent and the globe to shape the future of the accountancy profession. The Association Chairperson and Accountant General of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Ms Malehlohonolo Mahase, led a delegation of her counterparts: Mr Jean Baptista Sande (Rwanda), Ms Taina Nankela (Namibia), Mr Jona Wala (Kenya), and Mr Edwin Zvandasara, (Zimbabwe). Others included Mr Steven Ojambo and Mr. Adddow Abbas who stood in for Uganda’s and Somalia’s Accountants General respectively.
AAAG’s presence was marked by engagements in uniting voices for stronger and integrated Public Financial Management. Ms. Mahase presented AAAG’s prioirties for strengthening public financial management, highlighting the pivotal role of Accountants General in addressing systemic weaknesses. In her address, she emphasized that adopting accrual-based IPSAS is a fundamental step for countries seeking to strengthen financial governance, manage public resources more efficiently, and achieve sustainable development. She also emphasised that sustainability initiatives in the public sector is no longer a peripheral concept in public-finance management but a practice that has fundamentally reshaped the lens of fiscal stewardship to encompass environmental, social, and governance dimensions.
Rwanda’s Accountant General, Mr Jean Baptista Sande, shared a remarkable success story of transformation in public financial management. In fiscal year 2024, his office achieved a 92% rate of unqualified (clean) audit opinions across more than 200 public-sector entities; a milestone that underscores the country’s unwavering commitment to transparency and accountability. Central to this success is Rwanda’s nationwide rollout of an in-house Integrated Financial Management Information System, which now underpins every stage of the government’s accounting and PFM operations. At the same time, Rwanda has become one of the few countries to fully adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), further elevating the credibility of its financial reporting.
Also speaking at high-level panel, AAAG’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fredrick Riaga, called for a fundamental shift in how governments view their Accountants General. He reminded delegates that, as Chief Financial Officers of their respective governments, Accountants General are entrusted with managing public funds, safeguarding economic governance, and driving sustainable development. Yet all too often, their expertise is relegated to the back office where they merely are perceived as “paymasters.”