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Tag: Accounting

  • Monnify plugin for Zoho Books simplifies payment collection for businesses in Nigeria 

    Monnify plugin for Zoho Books simplifies payment collection for businesses in Nigeria 

    TeamApt Ltd, leading payment gateway service, Monnify, is now available as a plugin for Zoho Books, a comprehensive cloud-based accounting platform. With this plugin, businesses in Nigeria can simplify how they invoice and collect payments while offering end-to-end financial management, and improving operational efficiency.

    With the Monnify plugin, available in Zoho Marketplace, businesses can generate invoices in Zoho Books and select Monnify as their preferred payment gateway. Customers are then directed to a secure Monnify checkout page where they can conveniently pay using Nigerian debit or credit cards, bank transfers, or other supported payment channels.

    This plugin allows real-time reconciliation of payments within Zoho Books, helping merchants reduce administrative overhead and manual effort involved in recording payments and gain better visibility into their cash flow. 

    “We believe that payments should be seamless, efficient, and reliable,” said Ifeanyi Duru, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Network Sales at Moniepoint Inc. “The Monnify plugin for Zoho Books helps simplify how businesses receive payments while offering customers multiple options to settle invoices. With this, entrepreneurs and SMEs can focus on running their businesses with confidence that their collections and financial records are always in sync.

     “At Zoho, our goal is to provide comprehensive, and connected financial ecosystem that reduces operational complexity for growing businesses,” said Prashant Ganti, Vice President of Global Product Strategy, Finance and Operations BU, Zoho. “As Nigerian businesses scale, they need their accounting and payment systems to work together seamlessly. With Zoho Books and Monnify, businesses can move from invoicing to collections without the friction, while maintaining accurate financial records with better visibility into their cash flow.”

  • Nigerian Breweries Plc appoints Olufunmilayo Akande as Non-Executive Director

    Nigerian Breweries Plc appoints Olufunmilayo Akande as Non-Executive Director

    The Board of Directors of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nigeria’s foremost brewing company, has announced the appointment of Olufunmilayo Akande as an Independent Non-Executive Director. The announcement was made after the board meeting of the company held on February 12, 2025.

    Akande replaces Ifueko Omoigui on the board following the completion of her tenure as a Non-Executive Director on February 19, 2025, and her appointment becomes effective February 20, 2025.

    Akande is currently the Finance Director of Siemens Energy Limited, Nigeria, and the Vice President of Finance for the North, West, and Central Africa subregions of Siemens Energy.

    She is expected to bring to the board her 30 years of robust work experience spanning different fields, including auditing, finance, accounting, consulting, corporate governance, business management, consulting, manufacturing, and oil and gas.

    Following the notification of appointments and effective February 20, 2025, the Board will comprise of: Mrs. Juliet Anammah, – Board Chair; Hans Essaadi (Dutch) – Managing Director/Chief Executive; Mrs. Adeyinka Aroyewun; Ben Wessels Boer (Dutch); Siep Hiemstra (Dutch); Mrs.Olufunmilayo Akande, MFR; Roland Pirmez (Belgian); Ibrahim Puri;Mrs. Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli and Jaap Overmars(Dutch).

  • Not Using Unified Collaboration Platform Resulting in Productivity Loss for Nigerian Businesses, Reveals Zoho’s Survey

    Not Using Unified Collaboration Platform Resulting in Productivity Loss for Nigerian Businesses, Reveals Zoho’s Survey

    Zoho, a leading global technology company, has unveiled the results of its study, “The State of Productivity and Collaboration in Nigeria, 2024”, which surveyed over 500 organisations with more than 50 employees across the country. The findings reveal critical workplace productivity challenges, including the overwhelming impact of data silos resulting from fragmented systems and inefficient app usage. The survey study also highlights the growing demand for unified platforms, which can help businesses streamline employee collaboration.

    “Nigerian businesses have adopted a variety of cloud tools over the years to support their digital transformation journey. However, they are beginning to recognise that these disconnected tools often lack integration with their existing technology stack, creating silos that hinder collaboration and lead to productivity losses. As this issue gains attention, the demand for unified collaboration platforms with advanced AI capabilities has surged, as corroborated by the survey findings. In Nigeria, we’ve observed a notable increase in the adoption of Zoho Workplace, reflecting this trend. Zoho Workplace set the standard for a unified experience as early as 2017, well ahead of the industry giants. It offers not just a unified interface, but brings contextual data to the forefront, saving time, and enabling users to focus on what truly matters,” said Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria.

    Key Findings from the Study

    The study shows that 55% of Nigerian businesses have adopted a fully on-site work model, while 31% operate in a hybrid setup, and the remaining 14% were in completely remote roles. Most remote roles are held by individual contributors with limited collaboration requirements, while hybrid workers face significant barriers in maintaining effective communication.

    The survey also revealed that 51% of employees use 1–5 apps daily, 35% use 6-10 apps, while 14% rely on more than 10 apps. App usage is higher among senior executives, with 81% of the C-Suite employees using more than 10 apps, while 72% of junior employees use 1-5 apps. The most commonly used tools are for productivity and collaboration (68%), followed by project management (47%), business intelligence (47%), and accounting (43%). Despite widespread app usage, only 50% of the respondents track their tasks in a unified view, with higher adoption rates among the C-Suite (78%) and senior leadership (63%).

    Productivity Challenges and Opportunities

    For the Nigerian workforce, the biggest collaboration challenge is poor WiFi/data connectivity (80%), across demographics. This indicates the need for solutions that have an offline mode and can work in lower data connectivity.

    Other collaboration challenges are digital fatigue (54%), and information spread across too many apps (45%). For middle managers, the second biggest challenge, after poor WiFi, is communication with employees in a remote or hybrid setup. According to the respondents, the most effective way to improve productivity in Nigerian workplaces is to enable quick access to necessary information from different apps (78%), followed by adoption of new technologies like AI (72%), and the ability to communicate from within business apps (55%).

    There is a clear demand for unified collaboration platforms bolstered with AI capabilities that can be integrated into existing software ecosystems. Such solutions will not only help in reducing the time taken to do the job, but can also reduce digital fatigue as one will not have to juggle multiple apps.

    The Economic Outlook

    As per the survey, 51% of the respondents said their organisation had adopted new technology to prepare themselves for the economic challenges. Those who said their companies had adopted new technology were more positive about the ability of their company to deal with the competition (rating 4 out of 5) than those who said their company had not adopted new technology (rating a little over 3 out of 5). However, largely, respondents feel their companies are adequately prepared to face economic challenges (57%).

    In fact, according to the findings, slow adoption of emerging technologies like AI emerged as the most significant factor hindering their ability to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market, cited by 46% of the respondents. Other reasons cited as causing competitive disadvantages were low adoption of digital tools (45%), and employees switching between too many apps (41%).

    Zoho Workplace

    Zoho Workplace is a unified collaboration platform that brings together communication, collaboration, and productivity applications, showing all relevant information and tasks in a single view. It comprises email, chat, online meeting, webinar, office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation), file storage, and social intranet.

  • FIRS Cautions MDAs: Stop Contracting Tax Assessment, Collection, Enforcement To Consultants

    FIRS Cautions MDAs: Stop Contracting Tax Assessment, Collection, Enforcement To Consultants

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has cautioned Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) against the appointment of consultants and concessionaires to collect taxes due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies, as the FIRS is the sole agency of government saddled with the responsibility of tax collection.

    In a Public Notice it issued Thursday, 22nd September, 2022, signed by its Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, the FIRS accused some MDAs of including functions of assessment, collection, accounting and enforcement of taxes and levies in their agreements with concessionaires and consultants.

    “It has come to the notice of the Federal Inland Revenue Service that some Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) are appointing concessionaires or consultants for the assessment, collection, accounting or enforcement of taxes and levies due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies.

    “Some MDAs include such functions in their agreements with concessionaires or consultants,” the Public Notice read.

    Citing Section 68(2) of its Establishment Act, the FIRS highlighted that by law it is “the primary agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria responsible for the administration, assessment, collection, accounting and enforcement of taxes and levies due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies, except as may be authorised by the Minister responsible for Finance by regulation as approved by the National assembly”.

    The Notice also stated that while Section 12(4) of the FIRS Establishment Act has provided that the Service may engage consultants, accountants or other agents to carry out certain functions on its behalf, the law has expressly prohibited the carrying out of assessing and collecting tax by consultants.

    The law provides that: “The Service may appoint and employ such consultants, including tax consultants or accountants and agents to transact any business or to do any act required to be transacted or done in the execution of its functions under this act; provided that such consultants shall not carry out duties of assessing and collecting tax or routine responsibilities of tax officials”.

    According to the Notice, going by “the above provisions of the law, it is clear that the duty of administration, assessment, collection, accounting or enforcement of taxes and levies due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies is that of the Federal Inland Revenue Service and its tax officials. No part of these responsibilities can be contracted to a private enterprise by any other MDA.”

    The Executive Chairman further cautioned MDAs who were in the business of appointing consultants for tax assessment and collection that they were not just acting against the letters of the law, but were committing offences that were punishable under the FIRS Establishment Act as amended.

    “Furthermore, appointment or authorisation of any person, other than by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, to assess, collect, enforce or account for taxes constitutes an offence under Section 68(3) of the FIRSEA. Such appointment or authorisation is punishable, upon conviction, with fine, imprisonment or both under Section 68(6) of the Act.

    “In view of the foregoing, where any person, individual or corporate, has any information or assistance that may be of use to the Service for the purpose of administration, assessment, collection, accounting or enforcement of taxes and levies due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies or for the performance of its duties under the FIRSEA, such person should approach the Service directly with such useful information,” the Notice read.

  • Wema Bank Appoints Chukwuemeka Obiagwu As Executive Director

    Wema Bank Appoints Chukwuemeka Obiagwu As Executive Director

    Wema Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Chukwuemeka Obiagwu as an Executive Director of the Bank effective from 1st of April 2021.

    Emeka is a multi-disciplinary professional with a background in Accounting, Insurance, Corporate Finance, Stockbroking, and Public Finance. He has over three (3) decades of experience in banking, financial services, and public service.

    Early in his career at Fidelity Bank Plc, Emeka successfully repositioned and grew a
    subsidiary which he eventually led as the Group Managing Director & CEO. At different times, he creditably led the Human Resources, Corporate Services.

    Transaction Support Services, Corporate Finance, Regional Banking as well as the
    Retail and Commercial Banking arms of the bank. He was a Non-Executive Director
    of Fidelity Pension Managers where he also served as Chairman of the Board, Audit
    Committee.

    He left Fidelity Bank Plc. in 2015 after 20 years of meritorious service and in January
    2016, joined the Federal Inland Revenue Service as a Director with responsibility for
    Enforcement. He was also a Member of the Technical Committee of the Board and
    Chairman of the Budget Committee of FIRS, among many other roles.

    Emeka is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School (SMP 16) as well as Harvard
    Kennedy School of Government Boston, Massachusetts USA, where he obtained an
    Executive Certificate in Economic Development. He has had the privilege of studying
    at some of the world’s leading institutions for Executive Business Education, such as,
    INSEAD Business School, Fontainebleau, France; Kellogg School of Management to
    mention a few.

    Mr. Obiagwu is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN);
    Fellow, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers; Honorary Senior Member, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Taxation; and Associate, Chartered Insurance Institute (London).