NBAA embarks on online teaching

THE National Board of Accountants and Auditors (NBAA) has acquired a modern online teaching system that will enable people to study and do the board examinations online wherever they are in the world.

This was said in Dar es Salaam yesterday by the NBAA Executive Director, CPA Pius Maneno during launching of a machine called ‘NBAA Training Infrastructure’ worth 150m/-.

The launch was witnessed by President of the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA), Mr Cosme Goundete, a citizen of Benin, his Vice President, Keto Kayemba a citizen of Uganda and the Chief Executive of PAFA, Alleta Prinsloo and 28 members of the Federation from various countries.

He said NBAA decided to buy the machines as a response to students wishing to sit for the board exams but stay far away from Dar es Salaam and others stay abroad.

“Travelling from Kigoma or Mtwara for students wishing to sit for the board exams has been challenging. To address this situation NBAA decided to find the machine and now anyone in the world can sit for NBAA exams,” he said.

Also, CPA Maneno said there will be a two-day meeting of PAFA this week that will be attended by more than 28 delegates from various countries in Africa and others who came to be observers from the United States and Europe.

The Government Accountant General, Mr Leonard Mkude hailed NBAA for its decision to buy the machine, as it will make it easier for many students to study without having to come to Dar es Salaam and take the exams.

“This is a big revolution because this machine will save travel costs but it will also solve the challenge of many Tanzanians working abroad who are members of NBAA to get training because in the past they were supposed to take the flight to come to NBAA but now they will be able to do it there,” he said.

He said that the machine will help increase the number of students studying accounting as there will be no cost of travelling or flying to study here in the country as it used to be.

He said the field of public accounting in Tanzania is highly respected in the world, so Tanzanians and people from abroad who need training provided by NBAA will be excited about the opportunity to have the plant and get what they need.

“The economy is growing rapidly, so we need a lot of accountants to support these economic activities today’s world is going digital and some countries have started using robots and others artificial intelligence, so we have to go with the speed of the world otherwise we will be outdated,” he said.

The NBAA Board Chairperson, Professor Sylivia Temu said that through the online training, she believes that they will be able to reach their foreign and domestic members who wish to study NBAA but were hindered by distance challenge.

“We at NBAA are responsible to ensure that our members, accountants and auditors are developed by giving them training wherever they are at work and even when they are retired because there are major changes in the accounting field,” she said.

Professor Temu noted that the development of Information and Communication Technology (IT) has shown that there are major changes in the field of accountants, so the machines are a preparation for the NBAA to go along with the IT reforms.

“This system will greatly help us reduce operating costs and we will reach many stakeholders, especially young people and we will increase the number of accountants and auditors who are experienced and up-to-date and this is very important for our country at this time when we are entering the middle economy,” she said.

She added that as the economy continues to grow and get more investors, the country needs to have experts who specialise in preparing accounts and auditing accounts so that it continues to be trusted by investors and other development stakeholders.