1. INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF
NIGERIA (ICAN)
“THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY
PRACTICE: MAKING ICAN GLOBALLY RELEVANT”
AN ESSAY ENTRY FOR THE
ICAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY ESSAY COMPETITION
BY
IBIKUNLE, OLUMIDE ADEDEJI
BABCOCK UNIVERSITY,
ILISAN-REMO,
OGUN STATE.
JULY, 2015
2015
7/31/2015

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THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING PRACTICE:
MAKING ICAN GLOBALLY RELEVANT
ABSTRACT
The roles and responsibilities of accountancy professionals have been forever dynamic.
Right from the most elementary forms in the medieval ages, we have witnessed a
constant transition in skill requirements and core competencies.
ICAN has been a major voice at the forefront of this, lending credence to the Nigerian-
trained accountant’s claim to global relevance in the professional arena. It has, over
the 50 years of its existence, produced accountants that the world has no choice but to
reckon with, and recognize in the scheme of things.
Nonetheless, 21st century dynamics imposed on the profession have made it important
that the global professional accountant step out of his traditional roles and functions,
taking up more consulting and business advisory responsibilities, with an eye for
technological competence. ICAN certainly has a role to play in ensuring that its
members evolve alongside. Its work is indeed far from done.
This essay has proposed a way out. To achieve global relevance in the next 50 years,
ICAN has to forge strategic global partnerships, train and retrain its members, ensure
that the nexus between practice and the industry is maintained, and regulate its
tuition.
Key Words: Professional accountant, ICAN, global.
Word count: 189 words.

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INTRODUCTION
Benjamin Franklin, (1706-1790) famously declared;
“An investment in knowledge (and training) pays the best interest”.
How true! To remain relevant in the ever-changing scheme of things, today’s
professional accountant has to choose between quite a number of finance priorities.
Globally, professional accountancy bodies are fashioning out strategies to meet this
need, and ICAN must not be lost on this.
THE PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT: HISTORY AND CURRENT REALITIES
The ancient Babylonian and Egyptian empires sealed their respective places in the
annals of history when they evolved systems, which have widely come to be regarded as
“Accounting” in our present dispensation. In these systems, accounts were kept for
taxation, storage and disbursements. Periodic reports (audits) were made to local,
regional and national rulers on the ways and means of the state and the treasury. This
was accounting in its most rudimentary form, which nonetheless required some level of
training. The advent of the 15th century saw a major breakthrough in accounting theory
and practice; as a direct consequence of expanding commerce across Europe, Luca
Pacioli, an Italian clergyman published his celebrated “Summa de Aritmetica, Geometria,
Proportionalite et Proportionalita”. This volume set out the principles of the double
entry system of accounting and heralded an era of enhanced interest in accounting
theory and practice.
Since the periods subsequent to the World War, there has been a paradigm shift in the
accountant’s skill requirements, roles and responsibilities especially with the advent of

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computational and communication devices, which have revolutionized data analysis
and processing.
The growth in size and complexity of firms, institutions, production and taxation has
underscored the need for the 21st century accountant to step out of his traditional role
of data gathering, recording and reporting, to one that entailed in-depth analysis and
processing of financial information. He is expected to take on the roles of financial and
business advisor, a manager of financial and other production resources. By virtue of his
training, he is seen as possessing the skills to avert business failure and restructure
businesses; he has the ability to contribute to public policy and provide assurance on an
entity’s financial statements and other matters. In all of this, societal expectations are
that he is an ethical individual, upholding the professional virtues of integrity,
independence, objectivity, transparency and confidentiality, due to the nature of his
work. Globally, all of these require extensive training from a recognized professional
accountancy body.
ICAN: THE BEST OF NIGERIA
The seed that is today, the nationally, and indeed globally acclaimed Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) was sown when The Association of Accountants
in Nigeria (AAN) was formed in 1960 with the primary objective of building capacity for
accountants in the new sovereign nation of Nigeria. With Chief Akintola Williams, (who
is today widely regarded as the Doyen of Accountancy in Nigeria) Chief Oladipo Cuthbert
Coker, and a few other leading accountants who had undergone a training in the United
Kingdom at the forefront of the campaign, the Institute was eventually created by an Act
of Parliament No. 15 of 1 September 1965 from existing accounting and auditing

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organizations including the AAN. At inception, membership size was a mere 250
individuals.
The Vision of the founding fathers was clear: “to be the global leading professional
accountancy body”. Saddled therefore, with a mission to produce excellent Chartered
Accountants, regulate and continually enhance their ethical standards and technical
competence in the public interest, Williams and his lieutenants set to work.
Today, 50 years down the line, ICAN has come of age.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange was established post-independence in 1960, through the
tireless work of Akintola Williams and some other notable Nigerians. Since inception to
the present day, members of the Institute have held several management positions on
the bourse.
In 1982, precisely on the 9th day of September, the Nigerian Accounting Standards
Board was established, with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria leading
out in terms of contribution to the issue and publication of Accounting standards on the
one hand, but also promoting its application and serving as a compliance enforcer on
the other hand. Even today, the role of ICAN in FRCN is quite central (the NASB was
eventually repealed in 2010, and replaced by the FRCN).
Members of the Institute have as well held key positions on the Board of international
accountancy bodies such as the IFAC, ACCA, playing particularly important roles in the
establishment of the Accountancy Bodies of West Africa (ABWA) and the recently
established Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA).
The Central Bank of Nigeria is today the sole custodian and regulator of the Federal
government’s monetary policy, making policies that have far-reaching impacts on the

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Nigerian populace. Established prior independence in July 1958, it has also played host
to several ICAN trained accountants at the helm of its affairs. One of such is Mr. Joseph
Sanusi, who was Governor during the regime of President Ibrahim Babangida. Aside the
Central Bank, ICAN members have also been, at various times, head of National
Economic Fora, (Mr. Oluseyi Bickersteth of KPMG Nigeria is Vice-Chairman of the
Nigerian Economic Summit Group) Tax and Medium-Term Economic Fora. They also
are top government functionaries, such as Ministers or Accountant/Auditor Generals of
States and the Federation.
Several members who had their basic accountancy training in Nigeria can now lay claim
to owning practicing licences and work permits even in highly developed countries such
as the United Kingdom and United States of America. The efforts of ICAN in keeping its
certification at par with global requirements (the ICAN/ICAEW partnership comes to
mind here) have paid off, as local, regional and international employability/mobility has
been ensured.
From the foregoing, ICAN has worked assiduously to ensure the global relevance of the
Nigerian-trained professional accountant, one who formulates policies to decide the
future and direction of industry and government, sometimes influencing the economic
destiny of a whole nation. However, it is pertinent to note that this work is far from
done, as the profession is a dynamic one, and to keep up with the spate of changes,
evolution is inevitable.
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
By the year 2020, the ACCA estimates that the extent of expansion in commercial and
governmental activities would require 9.3 million accountants. This implies that our

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world is becoming increasingly uncertain and almost every aspect of the economy,
business and the accountancy profession has to keep up with the constant transition.
The Enron Scandal of 2002 and stock market crash of 2007-2009 and the resulting
economic depression have brought to the fore, the need for accountants to be solution
providers to a variety of business problems in the economic space. In the new
dispensation therefore, the professional accountant would have to build specialized
skills and take on the roles of financial & business programmer/analyst, to help
organizations stay ahead of uncertainty. Corporate reporting is certainly no longer
about reporting turnover and bottom-line, but environmental and social responsibility,
governance and risk, and overall organizational strategy. The professional accountant
has to evolve with times, or as Charles Darwin posited, go into extinction!
According to a research report publish by Intuit in 2011, the accounting profession and
its professionals would be influenced by far-reaching trends, which would conceptually
change the “how” and “what” of accountants’ function. The trends were categorized
into four fundamental areas; the evolving business environment that create new
opportunities for specialization; demographic shifts that change the face of
professionals and clients; technology changes to the accounting profession, which
emphasizes the use of data for decision-making and High-Tech, which enhances high-
touch client outreach, relationships and service.
Some of these trends are gaining on our profession already. The bottom-line is therefore
obvious; this age would be technology savvy, and the professional accountant needs to
beef up his IT portfolio, to survive and thrive.

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THE IMPERATIVES: ROLE OF ICAN
ICAN has its work cut out. Professional accountants lay claim to membership of globally
recognized accountancy bodies. It is therefore not enough that ICAN maintain the
status-quo as a colossus in the Nigerian accounting space. It must produce globally
relevant accountants. Although, I earlier established the need for IT competence, several
other issues exist which must be put into focus. I have therefore outlined several
strategies, which should form part of ICAN’s approach to the future.
Partnerships and Strategic Alliances
The need for globally focused alliances as a key ingredient in our overall global
competitiveness drive should be underscored. Take a cue from ACCA. The turn of the
new millennium was one period in which strategic decisions affecting the future of the
accountancy body were taken. A BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting programme was
launched in partnership with Oxford Brookes University in 1999, and then in 2001 an
exclusive MBA programme was inaugurated, in alliance with the same institution.
Diplomas in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR) and Corporate Governance
(DipCG) were also introduced. That year, ACCA announced record student registration
numbers. Leveraging on the fact that the ICAN qualification is now recognized in the UK,
the Institute should be able to pull through one of such collaborations with
internationally recognized tertiary institutions. Enter partnerships with global IT firms,
to chart a course for our IT competence drive, similar to what obtains globally.
Continuing Professional Development
One of the most effective ways of ensuring that professional accountants stay abreast of
contemporary research and development is via continuous training and retraining.

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This ensures the global relevance of the accountant, as he is consistently fed with the
latest industry and business trends affecting the profession. This is perhaps one matter
that requires effusive commendation for ICAN. The introduction of Faculties, to serve as
reservoirs of knowledge on technically knotty practice issues, and the requirement for
each financial member to avail themselves of at least one faculty per annum is indeed
praiseworthy. Aside the Annual Accountants’ Conference and a plethora of conferences
organized by the Institute, the recent establishment of the MCPE (Mandatory
Continuing Professional Education) and CPE (Continuing Professional Education)
platforms for members and non-members respectively, as a means of ensuring that
professional accountants in Nigeria have a forum to consider research and policy in
their field at least once annually, is noteworthy. Quite unfortunately, only minute
fractions of ICAN members take advantage of these professional development fora.
Inasmuch as they recognize that these are designs to help keep skills and experience up-
to-date, a major challenge remains the exhausting and busy schedules of many an
accountant. Therefore, ICAN must take concrete proactive steps to solicit, on behalf of
its members for sponsorship and discharge by their organizations, to attend these
conferences. If the objectives, as well as the penalties of non-attendance at these fora
are properly communicated to the organizations, I believe that businesses would adjust,
and before long begin to see them as pertinent to the development of their accounting
and finance functions. These should also serve as veritable platforms for introducing the
latest IT skills and competencies, so the accountants can serve the role of change maker
for their respective organizations. ICAN could as well champion the enactment of
legislation in this regard.

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Qualitative Research & Thought Leadership
As it is with virtually all other service-oriented professions, the accounting profession is
made up of three parts: research, policy and practice. Therefore, within the broad
profession of accounting there needs to be more communication and coordination
between practitioners, policy makers and academic researchers.
The importance of the relationship between the gown and practice cannot be
undermined, as research is vital to the success of professionals.
Professional associations have an important role to play, in not only transmitting
academic research findings to practitioners, but also undertaking funding for, or
arranging financial support for practice-focused research. One way to achieve this is to
collaborate with government and the organized private sector to sponsor publication of
quality research in internationally reputable accountancy, finance and management
journals, and champion paper presentations at conferences, home and abroad. This
effectively places the Nigerian-trained accountant on the global radar. The step taken by
ICAN to endow professorial chairs in Nigerian universities is laudable. However, we
must recognize that in our drive to attain and maintain global relevance within the next
50 years, our task is far from accomplished. Joint seminars between academics and
practitioners are likely to enhance the relevance of academic research to practitioners
and more direct contact between academics and practitioners would improve the
quality of academic research. ICAN should consider investing in more of such platforms
(the first formal academic/professional discussion forum held in May 2015). Armed
with the results of relevant academic research, our professional accountants are better
poised to take their rightful place in the league of global accountants.

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Curriculum and Institutional Reforms
A globally relevant professional has the right mix of Education, Experience and
Exposure. Most accountancy students complete their professional training early enough,
but lack the much needed practical experience and exposure, hence a huge
education/skills deficit. One effective strategy to bridge this chasm is to enforce a 1-year
mandatory practical work experience scheme on completion of the ATS programme,
before transition to professional level. On the other hand, students who go through the
foundation programme should be required to complete this scheme before putting pen
to paper for their professional level examinations. The impact of this is not far-fetched;
students have an opportunity to see their training dovetail into practice, and are able to
build professional skills even prior to completion of their training. The implementation
of this strategy should be closely monitored, to prevent its manipulation.
To achieve the above, steps could be taken by ICAN to liaise with the Federal
Government, through the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to set up internship sections
within the accounting and finance functions of companies.
Globally, accountants are subjected to quite rigorous training, and have to prove their
mettle by putting their skills on display to earn the status. Perhaps, the standard of ICAN
examinations and the rigour of training have been forced down in a bid to stave off
competition from other local accountancy bodies, and the few international bodies
operating in the country. Infact, ICAN has failed in its several attempts to render the
recognition of the Association of Annual Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) voided by law.
To effectively “compete” therefore, it has resorted to moderating its requirements,
hence garnering record student numbers. The recent revision of the ICAN syllabus (in
partnership with the ICAEW), highlighting the required skills and core competencies for

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the 21st century professional accountant is impressive. Nonetheless, it is not enough to
simply revise the syllabus and produce remarkable study texts. My candid advice to the
Institute is quite straightforward. Quality should not be compromised in the face of
competition! Nigerian-trained accountants would only be able to hold their own
amongst their peers trained elsewhere in the world, if their training is sound. This
eventually pays off for the Institute as our accountants can enjoy membership status on
the board of international accountancy bodies such as the IFAC, IASB, IOSCO, amongst
others.
Conclusively, I am positive that this essay has critically analysed the history and current
realities of the professional accountant, specifically the Nigerian-trained accountant viz
a viz his global counterpart within a timeline spanning 50 years to the present. It has
also emphasized the evolving role of the professional accountant over the next 50 years,
and the role ICAN has played, and would need to play in the future, to ensure that it
catapults itself into global relevance in the comity of professional accountancy bodies.
The measures highlighted here, though exhaustive, do not make the full picture, due to
time and space constraints. However, I strongly believe that if these few are considered
alongside a few others, and appropriately implemented, we are well on our way to
making ICAN a truly global brand.
We should begin now to actualise the vision of Williams and his comrades, because the
future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
I close with the words of U.S President, Barrack Obama: Yes, We Can!

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References
Intuit © 2011. Intuit 2020 report: Future of the Accounting profession.
www.wikipedia.com/instituteofcharteredaccountantsofnigeria. Accessed on 3rd
August 2015.
www.accaglobal.com/History . Accessed on 3rd August 2015.
ACCA and IMA © 2012. The Futures Academy: 100 drivers of change for the global
accountancy profession.
www.ican.org/History
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia © 2011. Bridging the Gap
between Academic Accounting Research and Professional Practice.
Shubik, M. © 2011. A Note on Accounting and Economic Theory: Past, Present,
and Future, Accounting, Economics, and Law: 1(1).