The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) is in talks with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AISPA) to resolve challenges encountered by members in maintaining their US State Board memberships, its president said yesterday.

Addressing accountants at the opening of BICA’s Accountant’s Week seminars, Darnell Osborne said: “BICA has solidified a partnership with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.” 

She added that AICPA is the professional organisation for certified public accountants in the US, and many BICA members are also AICPA members.  

    “We aware that members trying to maintain their US State Board memberships have encountered challenges in the past two years,” Mrs Osborne said.

“We are presently in discussions with the AICPA representatives, who work closely with the individual state boards, to try and find solutions to this challenge. We hope to make an announcement in due course.”

Mrs Osborne said the AICPA and BICA have agreed in principle for the latter to provide Bahamian accountants with e-learning opportunities in the form of an on-demand self-study programme and webcast, set to begin next January.

     “In addition to solidifying a partnership with AICPA, this past summer the Institute implemented practice monitoring, a long-awaited initiative and one of seven statements of membership obligations under membership in the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC),” said Mrs Osborne.

    She added that BICA has committed to hosting the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) conference in the Bahamas in 2018.

“This conference will attract accountants from around the region and the  world,” the BICA president said.