DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA
The history of accounting in Nigeria can be traced prior to the establishment of professional account accounting ing bodies bodies in the country country.. The The first first indige indigenou nouss profes professio sional nal account accounting ing body body in Nigeria is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), which was established in 1!" 1!" by an act of parl parliam iamen ent. t. ICAN ICAN was was and and is stil stilll respo respons nsib ible le for for the the trai traini ning ng and and certification of professional accountants in Nigeria. The Institute is also saddled with the responsibility of issuing out guidelines on the practice of accounting in Nigeria. It also participates in the regulation of general accounting practice in Nigeria. In 1#, howe$er, anot anothe herr prof profes essio siona nall acco accoun unti ting ng body body was was form formed ed $ia $ia a %ecr %ecree ee.. The The body body is calle called d Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN). The association is also responsible for ensuring the best practices in the profession and also participates in the general regulation of accounting practice in Nigeria.
The two recogni&ed accounting bodies in Nigeria, ICAN and ANAN, in most cases do not wor' together. together. They spend much time arguing arguing on unnecessary unnecessary issues relating relating to superiority superiority and who is legally responsibl responsiblee for what and who is not (che, **). **). The le$el of cohesion between the two bodies is wea' though it is impro$ing o$er the recent years. This cannot be said about other professional accounting bodies in the nited +ingdom, nited tates, and other western countries. Although there seem to be a feel of inferiority and wea'ness on the part of later established professional accounting bodies relati$e to the already established ones globally, those bodies wor' e-pertly and tirelessly to achie$e full status and recognition. They do not unnecessarily unnecessarily attac', attac', but apply efficient efficient and effecti$e effecti$e strategies strategies to reali&e their dreams. They fight for the common good of the profession and e-pose their efforts to the public in order to gain appreciation and confidence.
ource Abubakar Salisu () Ad$ancement of Accountancy /rofession in Nigeria A Collaborati$e 0ffort of /racticing Accountants and the Academia /g "2! 3etrie$ed on 1# th 4ay *1". http55abu.edu.ng5publications5*112*#2#*21#16!711"!.doc-
Origins Of The Accounting Profession In Nigeria /rior to the Nigerian independence in 1!*, there was little professional accounting acti$ity in the country, which was mainly in the multinational enterprises sector under the tutelage of 8ritish accounting system. Nigeria, li'e most of 8ritish colonies, inherited accountancy and company law based on the 8ritish model. %isclosure re9uirements and reporting re9uirement were based on the 8ritish system. Along with multinational enterprises, large international accounting firms also influence the accounting systems in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, international accounting firms dominated the accounting and auditing practices in the country. The old lin' between multinational enterprises and international accounting firms is the primary reason for their presence in Nigeria, although the lac' of indigenous accounting firms is another reason. o, there has been a significant amount of influence of foreign enterprises on the de$elopment of accounting system in Nigeria. Nigeria 9uic'ly adopted colonial heritage of professional de$elopment from 8ritain, which manifested in the establishment of some indigenous professional bodies such as the Ni gerian Institution of ur$eyors (NI), and immediately after its independence in 1!*, Nigeria began the process of professionali&ation by organi&ing professionals into $arious professional groups. These include the Nigerian 4edical Association (N4A), the Association of Accountants in Nigeria (AAN) now the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Nigerian Institute of 4anagement (NI4), and the Nigerian Institute of 0state ur$eyors and :aluers (NI0:), the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), and the Nigerian ociety of 0ngineers (N0). The emergence of indigenous professional bodies in Nigeria was significantly as a result of political independence. The professional bodies and their members because of their training and origins ha$e become replacements of the e-patriate personnel. The celebration of the accounting profession in Nigeria thus presents a good opportunity to e-amine the origins of the profession and how it has e$ol$ed from an appendage of colonial administration to an independent indigenous practice. The de$elopment of accountancy profession in Nigeria had been predicated on the 8ritish accounting practices, indeed the promoters of the formation of the first accounting body in the country were mainly members of recogni&ed accounting bodies in the nited +ingdom such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 0ngland and ;ales (ICA0;), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of cotland (ICA) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The first Nigerian to 9ualify as a /rofessional Accountant in 16 was 4r A'intola ;illiams, who was subse9uently admitted into the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 0ngland and ;ales. 8y 1!*, there were only 6* Nigerians who 9ualified as professional accountants in the +. The ondon in 1!*. ?owe$er, the members of the ACCA in Nigeria later considered the need to form a local professional accounting body that will absorb all accountants in practice and those admitted into foreign accounting bodies. ignificantly, this decision was based on the fact t hat the then status of their professional 9ualification ACCA was percei$ed as inferior to three + chartered accountancy bodies (;allace, 1). Therefore, the ACCA members resol$ed to form a central accounting association in Nigeria largely to wither the stigma of inferiority of their original 9ualification (che, **=). The first step in the de$elopment of an indigenous accounting profession post2independence was the formation of the
Association of Accountants in Nigeria ( AAN) on eptember 1, 1!*. The AAN was registered as a body corporate under the then Companies @rdinance with the main ob
The Early Era (1960 – 1979) The 0arly 0ra can also be described as The Road to Professionalism because it represents the birth and infancy of the accountancy in Nigeria. 8y 1!*, the Nigerian uni$ersities began to offer accounting degree courses in the country, which was followed by the polytechnics. The de$elopment of tertiary institutions stimulated the growth of accounting courses in the country. Although according to che (**=), there is a wea' ne-us between instruction, practice and research, lac' of balance of theory and practice in curriculum without dedicated effort for doctoral research. The lac' of collaboration between the academia, the pri$ate sector and professional bodies has no doubt retarded the rele$ance of accounting graduates at their places of wor'. nli'e accounting, other professions li'e law and medicine ha$e maintained close liaison with the uni$ersities, which ma'es their professional bodies to ha$e direct input in the accreditation of rele$ant departments or colleges in the uni$ersities and polytechnics. Bor e-ample, the Nigerian 4edical and %ental Council monitors the 9uality of training of doctors and dentists in the country. The Council can e$en withdraw accreditation of departments or colleges that fail to li$e up to its e-pectations. ;hereas the professional accounting bodies can only ma'e such input through the accreditation process of the National ni$ersities Commission (NC) and the National 8oard for Technical 0ducation (N8T0) based on the contribution of indi$idual members of the accounting profession rather than the professional bodies on their merit. Apart from the pro$ision of education to the Nigerians at the uni$ersities and other educational institutions, the significance of the academia in the de$elopment of accounting profession in Nigeria is ob$ious from the role of the Nigerian Accounting Association (NAA) , which was formed as the Nigerian Accounting Teachers Association (NATA) in 1= with the main ob
but were not affiliated to any recogni&ed international accountancy body (ection E and 1 of ICAN Act 1!"). ince the formation of the Association of Accountants in Nigeria (AAN), there had been inherent internal and e-ternal conflicts within the Association and indeed the larger accountants in practice, including accountants and auditors. This is as a result of the fact that not all accountants who 9ualified under recogni&ed foreign accounting bodies wanted to be members of the ICAN but were forced to
Nigeria and for the time being acceptable to the Institute could enrol as a chartered accountant e"en though that person ma# not b# law be entitled to practice accountanc# in the countr# granting the uali!cation$ This was belie$ed to be the most pragmatic means of chec'mating e-ternal threats to t he monopoly of the ICAN. The first formal petition to the Go$ernment for e-clusion of practice of auditing in Nigeria was recei$ed in 4ay 1= from the members of the newly formed Nigerian ociety of International Accountants (IA), a body representing Ni gerians who 9ualified and admitted into Association of International Accountants (AIA) of the + (che, **=) and members of other foreign recogni&ed accounting bodies that were refused admittance into the ICAN. This petition became necessary due to the ob$ious fact that the accounting training and s'ills of these accountants were far greater than those absorbed into the AAN and later the ICAN, who had no affiliation to any professional accountancy body anywhere in the world. Although the Go$ernment decided against the decision, the agitation remained ali$e and culminated into the IAHs re9uest to the Go$ernment to e-cise the accounting regulatory function contained in the ICAN Act of 1!" and $est it in the superintending Bederal 4inistry of 0ducation, as a gateway to brea' the ICAN monopoly (che, **=). The growth of the corporate sector was a maagos toc' 0-change was established which was renamed the Nigerian toc' 0-change in 1==, and also the /ersonal Income Ta- 4anagement Act 1!1 and the Insurance Act 1!1 were enacted. The Company %ecree 1!E was promulgated to facilitate the de$elopment of indigenous corporate sector. The decade of the 1=*s was dominated by the Foil boomH which enabled e-pansion of infrastructure and public sector in$estment in large scale manufacturing concerns such as te-tiles, cement, be$erages and agro2allied largely based on import substit ution strategy. The decade has also witnessed $arious de$elopment policies under the econd and Third National /lans, chief amongst which was the go$ernment Indigeni&ation /olicy. %uring the two decades after independence, the $arious de$elopments in the corporate sector $is22$is go$ernment nationalistic policies triggered the high demand for accountants in the Nigerian economy. %espite the e-istence of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) s ince 1!", there had been a wide gap between the re9uirements of accountants in Nigeria and the rate of their de$elopment. The apparent monopoly of ICAN as the only accounting body indicated a handful of professional accountants atop the burgeoning economy. As at 1E*, there were only ,1!" professional accountants listed in the membership of the ICAN of which more than 1,E" 9ualified abroad. In other words, between 1!" and 1E*, there were only 1E* persons that 9ualified through ICAN e-amination (only 1 person passed in 1= and " in 1=). %uring the ne-t two decades the ICAN members increased to more than 1*,***, and currently the number e-ceeds =,*** Chartered Accountants, among which appro-imately 1,*** 9ualified abroad. The failure of the ICAN to mo$e with the need of the burgeoning economy due mainly to its monopolistic tendencies, and indeed poor hori&on precipitated serious agitations for opening the accounting profession in the country to
competition aimed at nurturing a robust and $irile profession capable of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian economy. The poor performance of the ICAN in producing professional accountants in Nigeria was obser$ed during a Bederal ?ouse of 3epresentati$e %ebate on ANAN 8ill on eptember , 1E1 where members e-pressed concern on %the inabilit# of ICAN to satisf#
the national need for accountants& where an annual a"erage of onl# ' Accountants uali!ed and enrolled into ICAN in spite of the large number of Accountants ualif#ing with *c in Accounting from "arious Nigerian +ni"ersities,$ This was accentuated by che (**=) in that the failure of the Institute -ICAN. to pro"ide
the enough accountants at all le"els to aid the Nation’s economic de"elopment has become the most compelling reason for the proliferation of the accounting bodies in the countr# . Indeed, a successful initiati$e to brea' the monstrous monopoly of the ICAN was concreti&ed at a meeting of four concerned members of the accounting profession on No$ember !, 1=E, where they resol$ed that
A "irile home/grown accountanc# bod#& which would pro"ide a path to a recogni0ed professional uali!cation which is of the highest international standard& and which would be open to all men and women solel# on the basis of education and abilit#& should be formall# launched on 1anuar# '& '232. The ne-t significant chapter in the e$olution of accounting profession in Nigeria was the establishment of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) by certain concerned professional accountants on January 1, 1=.
efor! Era (19"0 – 1999) The 3eform 0ra can be described as 4ra of Professionalism and Competition since it co$ers the period of brea'ing the monopoly of ICAN and indeed the origin of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) ushered by $aried agitations and petitions to go$ernment against the dismal performance of ICAN and ominous de$elopment in the accounting profession in Nigeria. It is on record that right from the enactment of the ICAN Act of 1!" there had been serious agitations for Fthe Go$ernment to inter$ene to brea' the monopoly of ICANH. The concern was first raised in 4ay 1= by the members of the newly formed The Nigerian *ociet# of International Accountants (*IA) , a body representing Nigerians who 9ualified and admitted into Association of International Accountants of the +, through a formal petition to the Go$ernment for e-clusion of practice of auditing (che, **=) and then from members of other foreign recogni&ed accounting bodies that were refused admittance into the ICAN. ;ith the ad$ent of ci$ilian democracy and the genuine agitation for the democrati&ation of the accounting profession in Nigeria, the monopolistic tendencies of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) 9uic'ly ended by the final stamp of the certain concerned professional accountants that culminated into the formation of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN). The debut of the ANAN as the second professional accountancy body in Nigeria was publici&ed in an ad$ertorial in the 5ail# Times of January 1, 1=. %espite the unwarranted oppositions from the ICAN, the Nigerian enate was at the final reading and adoption of the ANAN 8ill in concurrence with the Bederal ?ouse of 3epresentati$es when the military inter$ened on %ecember #1, 1E#. The agony of the ICAN continued to rage with unhealthy campaigns of calumny against ANAN in any sl ightest opportunity, indeed worst than what transpired between the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 0ngland and ;ales (ICA0;) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the + during the foundations years of the ACCA. It was not until one and half decades of the formation of ANAN that the Bederal 4ilitary Go$ernment of /resident Ibrahim 8adamasi 8abangida granted statutory recognition by the enactment of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria 5ecree 36 of '227$ The %ecree later became Act =! of 1# with effect from 4ay , 1, at the inception of democratic ci$ilian
go$ernment. In a nutshell the Act empowers members of ANAN to e-ercise their professional functions in all sectors of the economy including public practice in the field of accounting, ta-ation, auditing and financial management matters, etc. ANAN is committed to understanding and promoting the role of the accounting profession in supporting the Nigerian economy and organi&ations. Accordingly, the Association belie$es that
The economic future of Nigeria depends largel# on the commercial and industrial e8cienc# of its producti"e capacit#$ Therefore& the education and training of professional accountants should re9ect the economic& structural and ideological en"ironment of Nigeria$ The decade of the 1E*s was characteri&ed by serious fiscal and macroeconomic imbalances which precipitated the introduction of the 0conomic tabili&ation (Temporary /ro$isions) Act 1E popularly 'nown as Austerit# :easures essentially designed to address the pre$ailing e-ternal deficits. In 1E!, the tructural Ad
No , :ol E, dated 1"th eptember 1". ince its inception, ANAN has been proacti$ely addressing the needs of high standards in the accounting profession. These accomplishments include the de$elopment of ad$anced academic institution of accountancy 2 the Nigerian College of Accountancy (NCA) in Jos, introduction of 4andatory Continuing /rofessional %e$elopment (4C/%) programme, collaboration with tertiary instit utions offering accounting programmes at degree and higher national diploma le$els, and go$ernment accounting and auditing departments for custom made training programmes, and national conferences to foster de$elopment of s'ills and the profession. These programmes draw resource professionals with an array of e-pertise in public accounting, pri$ate industry, and academia, as well as other disciplines. ANAN which was established in 1= had a total of E,"** Certified Accountants in its first two decades of e-istence and currently the number e-ceeds 1!,***. 8etween 1E6 and **, more than 11,!** professional accountants 9ualified through the Nigerian College of Accountancy and were admitted into full ANAN membership after the completion of the prescribed accountant2in2training programme. The contribution of ANAN in nation building has been huge. In **, for e-ample, ANAN submitted its contributions to the go$ernment on the ongoing $isioning process K :ision ***, and had participated in $arious fora on nation building organi&ed by the go$ernment and organi&ed pri$ate sector, including N0G, N0/A%, and ;orld 8an' Group. It also remains a ma
1ournal of Accountanc# , ANAN Thin'2Tan' and the li'e. The Certi!ed National Accountant which is a 9uarterly publication of ANAN ser$es as a means of communicating to its members the problems, proposed solutions, challenges and responsibilities faced by the profession. Two additional publications of general interest to accountants are The 1ournal of Accountanc# published under the auspices of the Nigerian College of Accountancy (NCA) was introduced in **=, and ANAN ;uarterl# Newsletter in *1*. It is on record that the Association has published four boo's in ** concerning professional practice and current de$elopment issues. These boo's are Agenda *** 3edesigning NigeriaHs Buture, /ractical Guide to 8usiness 0ntrepreneurship, ?andboo' on Braud 4anagement and Borensic Accounting, and Accounting /rofession in Nigeria The ANAN tory. Brom its inception ANAN has been seriously ad$ocating for the creation of a regulatory authority for accountancy bodies in Nigeria, Council of Accountants in Nigeria (CAIN) to regulate the recogni&ed accounting bodies in the country as in the case of Council of Registered 4ngineers in Nigeria (C
There is need to restore public con!dence in the professionals belonging to the accounting sector =$and the challenge demands a united e>ort of professional bodies at resol"ing both internal and e?ternal problems facing them .
This no doubt emphasi&es the strong need for collaboration among rele$ant professional bodies ser$ing the accounting sector towards resolutions of continuing problems facing the sector. The debut of the ANAN has no doubt re$ersed the hegemony of ICAN i n the accounting profession in Nigeria, and in fact gingered the ICAN to adopt changes, especially in its training of accountants. The ICAN has continuously modified its training programme to co$er di$erse aspects of accountancy and also impro$ed the minimum entry re9uirements for e-amination to 8c5?N% in Accounting. Burthermore, the ICAN adapted the ANAN 4andatory Continuing /rofessional %e$elopment (4C/%) programme in the name of 4andatory Continuing /rofessional 0ducation (4C/0) for the training and retraining of its members. Another significant de$elopment during the Reform 4ra or 4ra of Professionalism and Competition has been the establishment of the Chartered Institute of Ta-ation of Nigeria (CITN). The CITN was recogni&ed as professional body in 1 by the enactment of the Chartered Institute of Ta-ation of Nigeria %ecree 1 with the main ob
Chartered Ta? Practitioner unless he@she had applied for and been granted licence to practice b# Council and had complied with rule ''$ In addition, the member is re9uired to ac9uire Ta- e-perience continuously for a period of #! months. Although the CITN was largely promoted by members of the ICAN, since 1 the Institute has been threatening to enforce pro$isions of its Act, which pro$ides that onl# its members can be engaged in ta? practice in Nigeria. This opened conflicts with the ICAN whose members dominated the practice of ta-ation in the country. The 4ra of Professionalism and Competition witnessed the establishment of Association of Accountanc# odies in est Africa (AA) in 1E by Accountancy 8odies and /rofessional accountants operating in the ;est Africa sub2region. It was inaugurated in Nigeria on August 1*, 1E, and A8;A was registered in Nigeria as a body corporate in 16. The main aim of A8;A is to strengthen the Accountancy /rofession in ;est Africa by enhancing the technical competence and ethical standards of members for effecti$e ser$ice deli$ery by adopting best practices in the public interest, as well as contributing to the de$elopment and sustainability of the regional economies. The Association could ser$e as a $enue for the protection of the sub2regional interest in the de$elopment of accounting standards and techni9ues. 8ut this is only possible if A8;A stand tall, neutral and as all encompassing association of accountancy bodies in the entire region with the necessary depth in harmoni&ation of standards and ethics, as well as e mbracing International Binancial 3eporting tandards. The growth of A8;A has been seriously constrained by lac' of $ision, internal regional politics, lac' of cooperation and ri$alry among some members of the Association in the region, as well as lac' of formali&ed accountancy bodies in the Brancophone countries (che **=).
#illenniu! Era ($000 – %ate) The decade commencing from the year *** can be referred to as 4illennium 0ra to reflect the true label of the period or 4ra of Consolidation and Blobali0ation. Bor much of this decade accounting profession faces wide2ranging challenges of globali&ation, transparency and accountability, as well as technology. The failure of professional ethics worldwide percolates into the economic systems in both de$eloped and de$eloping countries with serious conse9uences, as manifested in the corporate failures in the de$eloped nations and ban'ing crises in de$eloping countries li'e Nigeria. The Nigerian ban'ing reform of **6 K **= e-posed the wea'nesses of the accountancy profession in the country. The role of accountants whether as auditors, financial managers, corporate e-ecuti$es, or analysts was put to test, and the public confidence in the profession become somewhat eroded.
The global business climate of the 1st Century is more comple-, demanding and rapidly changing than e$er beforeD. As the business climate changes, the rules of competiti$eness are changing, and more significantly, the role of professional accountants changes too. In Nigeria, the present decade has witnessed great de$elopment in accounting profession than in the preceding four decades due largely to competition between the two recogni&ed professional accounting bodies that regulate their indi$idual memberships. The percei$ed competition is a dri$er to the de$elopment of the accounting profession and a measure of 9uality assurances. Today, the two recogni&ed accounting bodies in Nigeria (ANAN and ICAN) between them boast of more than 6#,*** 9ualified professional members. Brom the seeds sown #1 years ago, the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has grown to more than 1!,*** professional members with #E chapters across the federation, whereas in its 6" years of e-istence, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has more than =,*** members (of which appro-imately 1,*** 9ualified abroad) with 6" district societies. The 4illennium 0ra emphasi&es the opportunities the profession pro$ides and confirms its role and commitment to attracting a di$erse pool of talent to a profession that is $ital to the economy. The present decade also witnessed $arious institutional de$elopments rele$ant to the accountancy profession. These include the creation of transparency agencies, the 0conomic and Binancial Crimes Commission (0BCC) and the Independent Corrupt /ractices Commission (IC/C), as well as the reinforcement of the Code of Conduct 8ureau acti$ities. 4ore so, the Nigerian Accounting tandards 8oard (NA8) Act of **# was passed by the National Assembly to support the financial reporting i n the country. The 8oard is e-pected to transform into a Binancial 3eporting Council in line with the global changes.
Ethics In Accounting Profession The word F0thicsH originates from the Ancient Gree' word ethi'os, which means customs and habits. o ethics relates to the study of $alues and customs of a person or group and co$ers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right and wrong, good and e$il and doHs and donHtsD. Thus the word ethicsD connotes ha$ing to ma'e the decision of doing what is right $ersus doing what is wrong, though what constitutes rightD to one person may be wrongD to another. ;hat some may loo' at as being unethical does not necessarily ma'e it illegal. The opposite of beha$ing ethically, is beha$ing corruptly. It is a well 'nown fact that corrupt beha$iour or corruption impedes economic de$elopment and prosperity. According to the /resident of Institute for Global 0thic (3ushworth +idder) ethics in its broader sense, deals with human conduct in relation to what is morally good and bad, right and wrong $
hat does ethics ha"e to do with accounting The financial accounting scandals such as those of Lero-, ;orldCom, 0nron, and in Nigeria that of >e$er 8rothers and Cadbury which ha$e generated much unwanted and unfa$ourable publicity on professional accountants and the accountancy profession called for serious attention to the need for accounting ethics. The scandals ha$e made some big implications on the profession as a whole. In the , for e-ample, the conse9uence of the decline in ethical beha$iour of some 'ey auditors and e-ecuti$es of public corporationHs financial reporting led to the enactment of the arbanes2@-ley Act (@A) of **. The Act created the /ublic Company Accounting @$ersight 8oard (/CA@8) in April **#, which is empowered to pro$ide rules in the following areas ethics, independence, and 9uality control for any registered accounting firms, replacing the role of the AIC/A for auditors of 0C registrants. 0thical issues ha$e been brought to the fore in the great profession as a result of the demise of large corporations and the ripple effect of these catastrophes on the economy. Accounting ethics is essentially the study of moral $alues and
ource Nuruddeen Abba Abdullahi(*1*) /g 1"21E Certified National Accountant A 9uarterly Journal of ANAN :ol 1E, No.6 @ct2%ec *1*. Celebrating "* Mears @f Accountancy /rofession In Nigeria
ole Of The Profession In Econo!ic %e&elo'!ent 4odern professions had a substantial impact on economic de$elopment. According to Alfred %. Chandler, professional managers, scientists, and engineers made crucial c ontributions to the e-pansion of large enterprises in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They were the most important dri$ers of economic growth in America and the other de$eloped economiesD (@JICC, *1*). The significance of professionals or professional bodies in nation building and indeed in economic de$elopment can be determined by the role they play in pro$iding support and solutions to the society. The success of professional bodies in fostering professionalism and contributing to national de$elopment is predicated on their ability to nurture and maintain high 9uality membership with strong leadership and management of the bodies. The professional members must uphold the ideals of integrity, transparency, hard wor' and best practicesD towards accelerated de$elopment. They should enthrone dynamic and purposeful leadership on their professional bodies, with great sense of forging alliances and partnerships both hori&ontally and $ertically, as well as beyond national borders. 3en 3icol (IBAC /resident) obser$ed that whether we are accounting professionals, go$ernment ministers, uni$ersity leaders, academics, regulators or standard setters K we are fundamentally engaged in the business of people.D It is indeed the a$owed ob
influence at a sub2regional le$el and Africa generally, as it is leading the de$elopment of the accounting profession in 0C@;A member countries through the promotion of the Association of Accountancy 8odies in ;est Africa (A8;A), and participation in international accounting acti$ities, including the ;orld Congress of Accountants (;C@A), the International Bederation of Accountants (IBAC), and the International Accounting tandards 8oard (IA8). /gs 1621" Celebrating "* Mears @f Accountancy /rofession In Nigeria Nuruddeen Abba A.
