Davidson Alaribe, the new President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, said his preparedness to champion the adoption of Artificial Intelligence for effective service delivery among the institute’s members.

On Tuesday, Alaribe said in his inaugural speech after his investiture, which took place in Lagos.

He said, “We will pursue the agenda we have codified in the DIAMOND acronym. We will create a technical committee on artificial intelligence, which will be saddled with the responsibility of regularly informing members on the potential of AI for chartered accountants and how this technology can be leveraged for improved and efficient services to society.

“We will ensure that ICAN remains at the frontier of accounting and finance knowledge, proactively contributing to the national imperative for sustainable and inclusive growth.”

Alaribe, who took over from Innocent Okwuosa, the 59th ICAN president, maintained that his time in office would be marked by teamwork with the council, body of past presidents, district societies, entire members, management and staff, and all stakeholders.

According to the ICAN president, part of his aspirations in the 2024/25 presidential year is to heighten advocacy, collaboration, and communication with the stakeholders of the Institute and attract young talents to the profession.

“A major challenge facing the profession worldwide is the need to attract and retain more young talents. According to the International Federation of Accountants, the global pipeline for professional accountants has decreased as fewer students globally are pursuing degrees in accounting, while an increasing number of accountants are leaving the profession, including public sector accounting, to work in other fields,” he lamented.