In the aim of securing the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) contract with insurance companies in Ethiopia, 3 international audit and accounting offices are competing one another. It was following the tender floated by the Ethiopian Insurers Association that the 3 companies listed their respective price.

Commenting on the matter, Hadiush Hinetsay, President of the Association, said “We are still negotiating with these companies”.

The Association’s decision comes a week after Ethiopian Bankers’ Association selected PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an international professional services and auditing firm, for similar purpose. The contract PwC signed, according to The Reporter, had a listed price of 800,000 USD. Other competitors KPMG and Deloitte, on the other hand, gave offers of 3 to 4 million USD.

Following the contract, PwC is expected to open a project office in Ethiopia.

When the contract was awarded to the winner, insurance companies in Ethiopia were expected to fully transform their auditing and accounting system, Haduish explained. In the aim of using it as comparison, the current fiscal year audit report would be converted to IFRS, he added.

IFRS was introduced to Ethiopia after the legislature approved the proclamation on IFRS. The proclamation changed the country’s audit reporting the old generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to IFRS.

Source: The Reporter