ABSTRACT
In Nigeria there are three well recognized Accountancy professional bodies that see to the overall affairs of Accountancy profession. These professional bodied are; Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (ICMA). This work analysis the impact of professional bodies on the development of Accountancy profession in Nigeria. In order to find out the impact of these professional bodies on the development of accountancy in Nigeria, the activities of these professional bodies were examined. The mutual relationship among these professional bodies was studies and various impacts created by some organs of professional bodies such as society of Woman Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Accountants in Business etc, were also examined. Secondary data were the main source of data used for the analysis. Analysis made disclose that professional accounting bodies have made a great impact in the development of Accountancy profession in Nigeria. The problems and prospects of accountancy professional bodies were examined and recommendation made for further development of accountancy profession in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Accountancy as a profession has undergone various stages in its development. Various accounting bodies of the world have contributed in the development of the profession in their various countries and beyond. In order to lay more emphasis on the impacts of the professional bodies mostly as it concerns Nigeria let’s look at three major professional accountancy bodies in Nigeria; the Institute of Chartered Accountancy of Nigeria (ICAN), the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAA) and the Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (CIMA). ICAN as the first and foremost professional accountancy body in Nigeria was seen to have contributed greatly to the development of the accountancy profession in Nigeria. It was discovered that ICAN has made contribution for the development of the profession in the following ways;
- Formation of Nigeria Accounting Standard Board (NASB) in 1982. This is responsible for the issuance of accounting standard (SAS) in Nigeria.
- Training of professional accountants through professional examination which takes various stages.
- Establishment of Accounting Technician Scheme (ATS) in 1989 to train middle level accountants.
- Partaking in the drafting of companies and allied matters, 1990.
- Establishment of Society of Women Accountants (SWAN) in 1978 to consolidate the impact of women in the development of the profession.
- ICAN prepares the standards and guidelines for auditing in Nigeria through Auditing Standard Committee (ASC).
ICAN also organizes seminars, mandatory continuing professional education programme etc. ICAN works with and represents Nigeria in other international accounting bodies in the world such as IFAC. All these have helped greatly in the development of the profession in Nigeria. It was also discovered that ANAN is making a good impact in the development of the accountancy profession in Nigeria, especially the establishment of Nigeria College of Accountancy (NCA) in Jos which is a breeding grounds for professional accountants. ANAN also organizes professional examination, continuing professional education, seminars etc.
The chartered institute of cost and management accountants is a new body, but was discovered to be making a good impact in the development of the profession. For the maintenance of the standards of the professional accountant, it was found out that the professional accountancy bodies have severe punishment for their erring members and students. Students can be banned from taking the institutes examination or suspended for some years if caught in examination misconduct or suspended for some years.
Many professional accountancy bodies have been formed in various countries. Some of these bodies include the Institute of Chartered accountants in England and Wales, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland etc. apart from these bodies which are country based, there are other professional accountancy which cut-across various countries. These bodies include, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Accountancy Bodies of West Africa (ABWA), and Africa Accounting Organization (AAO) etc. these bodies have strongly contributed to the development of accountancy in their various countries and in the whole world in general.
In this research work, each of these bodies will be examined, their establishment, activities and most importantly their impact on the development of accounting profession in Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The institutes of accountants and their members have been subjected to increasing public scrutiny following protracted criticism in many jurisdictions over a substantial period (Lovell 1995 p.60). The failure of accounting documents to reveal a more accurate reflection of the financial well being or ill health of organization and the collusion of accountants in the preparation and validation of those documents, to the failure of the accountancy profession satisfactorily to take account of the public interest in the determination of the future of accounting and auditing practice.
High profile corporate collapses and fraud with which accountants have been associated to auditors, executives and directors have prompted searching question to be asked as to the integrity of the professional accountants’ involved (Clark et el, 2003). These collapses or systemic failure, as the broad range of financial scandals exposed in the early years of the 21st century have been labeled, have brought into sharp focus and over a more concentrated time scale, issues of long-standing debate include; audit and accounting regulation, auditor and independence earnings management, audit and audit firm quality controls (Browns 2005, Young 2005, Reinstein and Mcmillian 2004).
Briloff (1986) alerted over the years that the credibility of accountancy profession is threatened when the idea of integrity, independence, public service and ethical standards came under suspicion. The core issue in the context of the accountancy profession is the statutory audit monopoly privilege enjoyed by public accounting practitioners and the accountability that is demanded by that privilege. These and other problems affect the development of accountancy profession especially in Nigeria and they need to be addressed.
