Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (ICPAR) have partnered with the Professional Organisation of Agreed Auditors in Rwanda (OCCAR) to boost the auditing standards in the country.

OCCAR is the auditing association for Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) in Rwanda.

According to the president of ICPAR’s President, Peter Rutaremara, the partnership is aimed at helping OCCAR in capacity building.

"The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is aimed at helping OCCAR to go on another level, at least on ICPAR’s level,” Rutaremara said.

ICPAR has a total of 200 members, 50 of whom are Rwandan nationals.

Rutaremara explained that Rwanda has now opened up to the world and the body is targeting 300 members by 2013, majority of whom would be Rwandan nationals.

"Next year, by December, we are launching our own syllabus for the accounting professionals through which we would be able to examine our own accountants.

The Chairman of OCCAR, Charles Karara, said to compete at a high level, the body needs such partnerships and training programmes.

"Instead of inviting people from other countries to audit for us, we need to give ICPAR full support as we increase their membership. This calls us to maintain certain standards so as to compete internationally,” Karara noted.

ICPAR has been carrying out training programmes to boost professionalism among accountants and auditors. 

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