Nigeria and South Africa’s accounting body, South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) and the Council for the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will allow members to work in both countries.

The agreement which is meant to facilitate corporation between both accounting bodies provides for member of each group to practice in each other’s country. This means that members of the Council for the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria can practice in South Africa and vice versa.

In terms of the memorandum‚ the two bodies agree to work together to promote the interests of members and the accountancy profession in general.

According to the chief executive of the Council for the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Terkaa Gemade , “This link between two leading professional accountancy bodies in Africa’s two most important economies is an important step in building that environment and offers potential to the members of both organisations.”

Meanwhile,  SAIPA’s chief executive officer, Shahied Daniels, said that “Nigeria’s business environment is in strong growth mode, and so offers the South African professional accountant a great new market in which to operate.”

“We look forward to working closely with our Nigerian colleagues to build a reliable standards framework that will support bilateral trade and business.”

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has emerged as a key trading partner for South Africa with trade volumes between the two countries increasing in value to $30-million in 2012.

Nigeria has been recognised as one of the fastest growing economies in the world since 2001 and its gross domestic product (GDP) is set to average 6.8 percent until 2015. While the South African economy is regarded as the largest in Africa.