SRC and SBSA formalise working relationship

The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) and the Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The agreement was signed by the commissioner general of SRC, Veronique Herminie, and the director of SBSA, Josianne Bristol, in a short ceremony held yesterday afternoon at the SBSA premises at the University of Seychelles, Anse Royale.

Present were staff and students of the learning institution as well as representatives of the SRC management.

The MoU is to establish a framework for collaboration in academic exchange through capacity building, such as training and research development opportunities, for SBSA students and staff of SRC.

The agreement will also assist in fulfilling the national needs of the human resource development plan by opening doors for students wishing to take a career in tax or customs through internship opportunities at SRC, in addition to granting SRC officers more access to the related objectives through enrollment in the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) courses conducted in-house by SBSA.

Mrs Herminie described the MoU as an important step taken by SRC in terms of capacity development of its staff in the field of accounting.

It is also to further cement the close collaboration the commission has with SBSA in the formation of its students through SRC’s internship programmes.

“Under the MoU, we shall also ensure that our domestic tax laws are given prominence in the course materials being offered to the students as part of our efforts to bring more awareness to the tax obligation for businesses operating locally. These students will graduate to hopefully become future accountants of these businesses and what they learn on our local taxes and tax laws shall be a plus to their employers. It will definitely open possibilities for recruitment at SRC for those students following the internship programmes subject to successful academic performance to meet the internal criteria and expectation of the organization,” said Mrs Herminie.

The commissioner general stated that since tax laws are not covered in the education curriculum, she welcomed the SBSA for offering such courses to its staff.

Since the start of this year, SRC has welcomed a total of twenty students from SBSA as part of the orgainsation’s internship programme among whom three are presently undergoing on-the-job training within the Revenue and Audit section. Students would spend four to six training sessions at the organisation.

Nine SRC officers are also presently enrolled on different ATT level courses at SBSA.

On her part, Mrs Bristol said that SBSA has been working closely with SRC for a number of years now and the MoU will help to formalise their partnership and will certainly provide the institution’s staff and learners with scope for further professional development.

“We look forward to building deeper understanding of Seychelles taxation laws for both lecturers and learners through the support of SRC and we also certainly look forward to supporting SRC with the training  of their own personnel. We know that this collaboration will benefit both parties immensely and help us develop further mutual support of each other,” she added.

SRC employs 376 workers among whom 40 are SBSA graduates.