1. The Next 50 Years Of Professional Accountancy Practice:
Making ICAN Globally Relevant
By
Madayese John Oluwashola
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
j.madayese@student.oauife.edu.ng

2. ABSTRACT
Today, the professional accountancy practice is a necessity and not a desire. Concerns for the
improvement of accountancy practices are necessary, especially in Nigeria where these activities are
strengthened with the progress of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)’s integration
into the structures of the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) due to the adoption of the
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). There are current realities the accounting profession
is faced with in this age due to the increase in technology and research. Hence, a professional body that
wants to remain relevant in years to come must be able to have some institutional and curriculum reforms,
strategic alliances and research contribution. This essay tries to identify evidence-based and logical
projection of the drivers and evolution, global relevance and expected competencies of the professional
accountants in a global context over the next 50 years. Also, it examines the various roles that ICAN will
need to play now and in the future to remain globally relevant as a professional accountancy body for the
next 50 years.
Keywords: Relevance, drivers, accountancy, international, technology, accountants and competence.
INTRODUCTION
“Only Accounting can save the world – through peace, goodwill and reconciliations” states an old
accounting humor quote. The history of professional accounting practice is that of human commerce, and
even more fundamentally, of writing and the use of numbers and counting. Some analysts argue that
accounting developed purely in response to the needs of the time brought about by changes in the
environmental and societal demands. Others claim that the development of the science of accounting
practice has itself driven the evolution of commerce since it was only through the use of more precise
accounting methods that modern business was able to grow, flourish and respond to the needs of its owners

3. and the public. Either way, the history of accounting throws light on economic and business history
generally, and may help us better predict what is on the horizon as the pace of global business evolution
escalates.
Accounting history started with the invention and dissemination of the double entry bookkeeping
processes. The first work on a double-entry bookkeeping system was published in 1495 in Italy, by Luca
Pacioli; however there is a long evolution of accounting systems in ancient and medieval times as seen in
the history of ancient Egypt, China, Greece and Rome. Ever since these periods, accounting has been
facing various changes in technology, particularly from the nineteenth century when it began to transit into
an organized profession, with local professional bodies in England merging to form the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1880. In this 21st
century many professional bodies now
exist, such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants (AICPA), Institute of Charted Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National
Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) and many others. These bodies offer education and training including
qualification and administration for various accounting designations, such as certified public accountant
and chartered accountant.
CURRENT REALITIES OF THE PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Unlike some 50 years ago, accounting in this age has experienced a shift in the mode of operation due to
the current trend in the deployment of various technological solutions to help simplify various companies‟
processes. The Big fours (KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst and Young) and some other accounting firms of
repute are now helping many organizations like Coca-Cola, Nestles, Siemens and many others to
implement solutions to help integrate their accounting and other systems. The era of keeping books is
gradually going into complete extinction and there is high demand for an accountant, but not just an

4. ordinary accountant this time around but an accountant with a difference. An accountant with a difference
is one who can independently resolve and/or develop recommendations for complex issues and problems
and serve as a resource for others in resolving unprecedented, non-standard issues and problems and
anticipate problems and develop recommendations for management resolution through the use of various
business and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) softwares.
THE ROLES OF ICAN IN DEVELOPING NIGERIAN TRAINED/ICAN CERTIFIED
PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS
ICAN is a professional association of accountancy in Nigeria and is one of the two professional
accountancy bodies with regulatory authorities in Nigeria; the other is Association of National Accountants
of Nigeria. The relationship between the two bodies has been tense. In 2007, ICAN attempted to have the
bill establishing ANAN declared void, however both bodies till date still remain the two organizations that
help to promote best practices in the accountancy profession. ICAN was created by an Act of Parliament
No. 15 of 1st
September, 1965. At time of foundation, it had 250 members but has increased its
membership by about 15,642% as at 31st
of December 2014, making a total membership of 39,107 as
reflected in the 2014 annual reports. ICAN‟s mission statement is “To produce World-Class Chartered
Accountants, Regulate and Continuously Enhance Their Ethical Standards and Technical Competence in
the Public Interest.” The institute has the vision of becoming a leading global professional body, the vision
which is synonymous with that of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), United
Kingdom as established in its motto in the year 1904 when it was established as London Association of
Accountants by 8 people.
Some of the contributions made to education and training for the development of trained accountants in the
country include: accreditation of 125 tertiary institutions to run full time accounting courses, example of
such tertiary institutions include Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Veritas University, Abuja in 2014

5. and University of Lagos. Secondly, it has launched about ₦50 million tuition house support fund to provide
qualitative studies and researches platforms to developing professionals. Also, ICAN in some many months
ago introduced a doctoral student grant for accounting research foundation. The support grant is the release
of over ₦400,000 to its members taking PhD programs in accounting in Nigeria to encourage research in
Accounting.
As part of ICAN‟s strategies to further the Institute‟s public interest mandate and to encourage the
production of highly skilled Accounting graduates, the governing Council of ICAN recently approved the
construction of lecture theatres in five selected tertiary institutions across the country as follows: Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Benin, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Federal
University of Technology, Birnin Kebbi and Northwest University, Kano. The lecture theater in Obafemi
Awolowo University has been completed and commissioned by the golden jubilee president of ICAN, Mr.
Chidi Ajaegbu in the first quarter of 2015. Numerous students‟ special project initiatives have also been
established to expand reach to northern states.
Since the institute started its examinations in 1970, it is on record that the integrity of its processes has
never been compromised, it has never leaked, the standard of its examinations are benchmarked on the
international education standards set by the International Accounting Education Standard Board (IAESB).
In order to facilitate the production of middle level manpower needed by the nation in its development
process, the institute introduced Accounting Technicians‟ Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) which has
trained more than 13, 500 accounting technicians since its inception in 1989. The scheme currently has a
registered student population of over 40, 000.

6. REALISTIC PROJECTIONS OF THE DRIVERS AND EXPECTED COMPETENCIES OF THE
PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT OVER THE NEXT 50 YEARS
In recent times professionals working in and close to the accountancy profession have identified various
drivers of change shaping the landscape for businesses and professional accountants over the next years to
come. The potential impacts and resulting imperatives are explored, opportunities are identified for
accountants to adopt a more strategic and trusted role. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
(ACCA), UK, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and Fast Future Research firm in 2012
collaborated to produce a research work on 100 drivers of change for the global accountancy profession.
This classical work identified the realistic projections of the competences of the professional accountants in
a global context over the next decades. These projections identify the following among others as the drivers
of change for the global accounting profession in the next five decades: Increased use of augmented and
virtual reality, big data and the digitization of work and increasing spread and ease of internet access.
The impacts of these numerous drivers upon accounting and the accountancy profession are numerous and
some of them include immersive and interactive 3D presentation of financial information, immersive real-
time financial reporting, and mobile apps developed to overlap business information over the real world,
adoption of cloud computing, creation of tailored user-centric financial reports and existence of digital
assets and virtual currencies. Another impact is that tolerance of uncertainty will become a core
competency for business leaders and accountants alike. Accountancy practices and training courses may
need to exist in a state of constant evolution for the next decade or more as the world tries to establish
sustainable economic management models.
At one of end of the spectrum, accountants could be viewed as „part of the problem‟ that caused the
financial crisis and continued economic uncertainty, by failing to provide sufficient early warnings and risk
alerts. At the other extreme is the possibility that accountants could be viewed and valued by society as true

7. „guardians of integrity‟. Such a positioning implies operating to the highest ethical standards and ensuring
that their firms comply with both the letter and the spirit of regulatory requirements. Accountants focus
solely on compliance. This approach obviously stresses the importance of meeting the core accounting and
regulatory reporting requirements without driving a larger sphere of activity. At the other end of the
spectrum, the finance function moves well beyond the realm of compliance and adopts a broader remit.
Hence, accountants play a far greater role in everything from strategy formulation through to new product
development and defining new business models. However, with the increase in the complexities of
accountancy in this age there are more competency requirements from accountants to enable them cut
through these complexities without compromising standards.
Accountants are now required to play significant roles in building and maintaining financial systems
integrated into different e-commerce platforms including consumer-to-business, business-to-business,
internet and mobile technology service systems. Hence they are required to be competent in handling e-
commerce systems. Other areas of competencies include information technology, continuous assurance,
risk assessment and general business management. These several competencies for Chartered Accountants
pose equivalent challenges to both individuals and to the profession as a whole. Some of these challenges
include: globalization, competition from non-accountancy professions and change management.
Innovation and new developments are constantly inducing change and dynamism in traditional accounting
processes and practices. An Accountant that must remain relevant will be one who is able to continually
unlearn old knowledge to learn new ways of doing things. For instance, IFRS and presentation of final
accounts under IFRS.
ROLES OF ICAN IN MAINTAINING ITSELF AS A GLOBALLY RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL
BODY

8. As part of the program aimed at ensuring professional upliftment and efficient service delivery by members
of ICAN engaged in public practice, the 50th
President of the Institute, Mr. Chidi Ajaegbu, FCA has
outlined regular and efficient interactive sessions with firms of professional chartered accountants across
the country as a matter of priority during his tenure. However, the institute should acknowledge the
professional contributions of medium sized audit firms to the nation‟s economy through the multifaceted
services rendered to their diverse clientele, because the actions and inactions of these firms will determine
if the goal of ICAN to be globally relevant in the next 50 years of professional accountancy practice will be
realizable. Hence, ICAN should call on partners in medium sized firms (e.g. Babington Ashaye & Co in
Lagos) to seek international affiliations and where possible go into mergers with other firms that have
positive professional reputation (e.g. KPMG Professional Services) and clout in order to enable them
imbibe the qualities of international best practices. Members of medium sized firms should always factor
into their partnership agreement the business continuity clause as a way of keeping their practices alive
upon their demise.
Another role ICAN should play in making itself globally relevant in the next 50 years of professional
accountancy practice is in the areas of the survival of its exam body, investment in its research and
development and human capital management (HCM). ICAN is an institute dedicated to technical
excellence and it is known for his uncompromising repute, however it is appalling that myriad of students
fail its exam annually despite the rigorous preparations put in place by them. Although, the 49th
President
of the institute , Alhaji Kabir Mohammed made an assertion in 2014 during a presentation in Lagos that
the poor performance of students in examinations has been attributed to inadequate preparation for the
examinations. Nevertheless ICAN has a great role to play in ensuring a smooth and easy journey of its
student through their studies for the acquisition of the membership status. ICAN online platforms of
relating with its students are yet to attain its full potential. ACCA for example has a strong IT Solution that
enables it to be well positioned as a global body. So, if ICAN is to be a global brand in some decades to

9. come, it must work on a strong e- platform (online) solutions to enable students to get access to the full
materials required for them to excel in their membership journey from anywhere in the world, both on time
and of the right quality. Applications containing frameworks and guidelines for difficult courses can be
developed and made accessible to students for download on platforms like Google play store; this will help
them to get full grasp of these courses at anytime and anywhere. Also, an ICAN social learning websites,
just like the ACCA social learning community can be developed for students where students can access
colleagues writing similar exams for brainstorming and online group discussions. This platform can also
feature the opportunity of students having assigned buddies online. These buddies having attained their
membership status will be able to give advice, mentorship and other necessary aids to students on this
virtual platform and this will go a long way to improve the quality of chartered accountants that will be
produced by the institutes in 50 years to come.
Furthermore, if ICAN wants to be globally relevant, it has to continue to be an institute with an
international outlook. Kudos to the institute because in the last years it has been partnering with numerous
international bodies to implement programs that will aid the development of accountants in Nigeria beyond
the current level. One of these bodies is the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
(ICAEW) which ICAN in 2014 brought to the country to organize training sessions for ICAN assessors,
examiners, tuition houses, owners of tuition houses, members of examination and student affairs
committees as well as the staff of the Institute. These sessions were aimed at training all stakeholders in
knowledge and skills required to meet the current changes in Accounting practice as well as meeting the
essential core competencies of the profession.
Finally, ICAN should extend it‟s learning services to stakeholders in the country who are not willing to
become full fledge accountants but need some knowledge of accounting and business from reputable
institutes like itself. This can be done by launching various online courses via world class e-learning sites

10. like coursera, udemy and edx, just like ACCA partnered with edx in 2015 to launch an ACCA-X Course on
Intermediate Financial and Management Accounting which was accessible to everybody all over the world.
CONCLUSION
The Nigerian Government should allow foreign accounting bodies to promote, uphold, support, advance
and develop accounting practices in relevant areas of accounting in Nigeria. Not surprisingly, ICAN is the
only Nigerian member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and has begun an effort to
positively transform and reposition its institute to become a real international player in the professional
accounting arena. ICAN has established districts in the UK and the USA and they have established
faculties in relevant specialization of accounting, which all its members must belong to one or more
faculties. ICAN has even taken steps to partner with a private Nigerian university to facilitate an avenue
where ICAN graduates without a degree can earn their degrees within two years. If the roles highlighted
above are employed and the ones in place are sustained by the institute, then ICAN will not only be
globally relevant in decades to come but position itself as a prime competitor to the currently known global
body of professional accountants, known as ACCA.
REFERENCES
1. Opportunities and Challenges for New Chartered Accountant (2014), Onome Olaolu, B.Sc., M.Sc.,
FCIB, FCA
2. The Nigerian Accountant Journal of ICAN (July/September 2014), Vol.47 , No.3
3. History of Accounting by John R. Alexander at Net Gain (1,4)
4. Accountancy Futures Academy: 100 drivers of change for the global accountancy profession by
ACCA, IMA and Fast Research Firm (2011/2012)
5. ICAN Annual Reports and Financial Statements (2014)

11. 6. Vanguard Online News Paper: ICAN recounts achievements in 50 years
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/ican-recounts-achievements-in-50-years/
7. Handbook: Accountants competency profile
8. History of Accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting
9. http://www.the-alternative-accountant.com/accounting-quotes.html
10. http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/global-economy/where-
next.pdf
11. http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2011/mar/171.html