DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY

THE ROLE OF THE ALUMNI

BY

Prof. Benjamin Chuka Osisioma

Director, Chike Center for Entrepreneurial StudiesNnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. 

INTRODUCTION

From earliest times, accounting has developed in reaction to the needs of business. It is the language of business, the medium for the communication for of business information and the purveyor of every notion of fairness and comparability in business exchange.  

 The first firm of chartered accountants was founded in 1853 as the Scottish Society of Accountants in Edinburgh and it received a Royal Charter in1854. Numerous other groups soon followed in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Aberdeen. In 1880, all these groups amalgamated to form the institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).

 In spite of this early start, accounting training in Europe was mainly by apprenticeship and article-ship. Accounting was not taught in any British University until 1902 and the first full-time professorial chair was created in 1947. Consequently, till date, most accountants in the British Commonwealth are not graduates. The emphasis seemed to favor training over education, in the task of producing accounting professionals. 

Training is the planned and systematic effort to modify or develop knowledge, skill or attitude through a learning experience in order to achieve effective performance in an activity or narrow range of activities. The purpose is to enable a recipient acquire ability with a view to performing adequately, a given task or job. 

Education in the other hand, is a process and a series of activities aimed at enabling an individual to assimilate and develop knowledge, skills, value and understanding that allow a broad range of problems to be defined, analysed and solved.  

 From a historical standpoint, the training of accountants has always followed a two-part process: a rigorous series of examinations administered by an examine body, and a period of article–ship under an accountant in professional practice. The origin of this dates back to 1581 when the professional association in Venice set out rigorous terms for admission of members. A would-be member was required to appear before a Commission of 45 Examiners, two-thirds of who would be accountants. Among the requirements to be presented at the “inquisition” was a Certificate of Fitness issued by a Magistrate. 

By 1882, the British Associations had a three-term examination structure consisting of Preliminary, Intermediate and Final Examinations. This patterns of developments by tiers of examination, is still maintained by the Institution of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ICAN, till date. 

The first organized body of professional accountants in the United States was formed in New York in 1886. By 1905, the contending national organizations were united to form one principal organization: the American Association of Public Accountants. In 1916, the Association was re-organized as the American Institute of Accountants. During the years 1900 to 1933, with the growing dependence of business on outside sources of capital, with the introduction of the income tax law in 1913,  and with the passage of the excess profits tax n 1917, the accounting profession became an essential part of American business life. Developments of direct federal legislation, such as the securities Acts of 1933 and 1934, and the requirements of the Investment Bankers Association of America, added impetuous to the growth of the accountancy profession. by 1920, accounting was already accepted as a course in the Wharton College of Business.    

A NIGERIAN BACKGROUND

In Nigeria, the history of accountancy profession is closely linked with our colonial heritage as a commercial and administrative outpost of the British government. The first indigenous Nigerian to quality as a professional accountant is reputed to be Akintola Williams who qualified in 1949 under the ICAEW. One of the early professionals, was one J.O. Famodu who in January 1958 was listed in the journal of the then Society of Commercial Accountants, as a qualified accountant.  

On September 17, 1960 some 14 Nigerian professional accountants who qualified in Britain, met at the Ikoyi residence of F.C.O. Coker to establish the Association of Accountants in Nigeria (AAN). On September 28, 1965, a parliamentary charter was granted the AAN, via the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Act No. 15.  

The period of   ICAN monopoly in professional practice recorded some pluses: the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board was established in September 1982 and the Company Law of 1968 was promulgated strengthening the legal muscle for corporate accounting practice. However, an apt summary of Nigeria’s professional practice in this period was given by Ejiofor (1987): 

• ICAN was established in1965. For five years after that, not one Nigerian was admitted into ICAN through its examination. In the next five years, only eleven Nigerians were admitted. In other words, in the first ten years of its existence, only eleven Nigerians passed its final examinations……And yet the years from 1960 to 1980 might go dawn in Nigerian history as the time when the country passed through the greatest amount of developmental transformation. These were the decades of independence, of the oil bum, the military regimes, the civil war, the indigenization exercise, the creation of states, and the change from parliamentary to the residential system. These were the decades of the establishment of the first indigenous universities, the UPE, and the proliferation of educational institutions……The latter half of this period was the one described as the decade of employment explosion. While the entire country was moving at supersonic speed, the ICAN was moving at a snail’s speed, all in the name of standards.

 With its negative attitudes towards a university-based business education by refusing to recognize as a qualification, degrees awarded by universities, the ICAN created the impression of being an economic organization whose sole objective was to maximize the corporate value and the income of its members. Thus, ICAN operated in those years, more like a trade union, than a professional association. 

The ICAN ran a training programme that had two main planks:            

 I.      Professional Examinations in three tiers:- Foundation, Intermediate and Professional levels. No attempts was made to prepare candidates for these examinations. Thus, with time, the examinations earned the dubious reputation of being tough and difficult;           

 II.      An Apprenticeship Training Programme:- which attaches would-be accountants as articled clerks to professionals in practice. This practice provided cheap labors for professional in practice, since the articled clerks were paid mere ‘peanuts’; a living wage could only be earned on qualification. 

A few things questions will highlight the deficiency in this system:

a)      How adequate is this system which began in Europe four centuries ago, for a developing country like ours with less than five decades of history of professional practice?

b)      How fair is it for professional bodies to train ‘by examination’ without preparing their students for these examination?

c)      Why should accountancy profession retain its time-worn attachment to training by apprenticeship, long after other distinguished profession have gone on to fashion out distinct body of knowledge for their disciplines? Apprenticeship is an on-the-job method of training, employed in small crafts, for the inculcation of specific skills in operatives.

d)      Should the training of professionals be left in the hands of “street hawkers” and every imaginable tuition house, whose only claim to educating their subjects, is the fact that they have prepared Question and Answer packs? Which of the other professional Bodies–like law, Medicine, Engineering and Architecture are left in the streets like accountancy profession?

e)   Should a respectable profession like accountancy allow “carpet crossing” at the very peak, where tired practitioners from other discipline cross over with ease into the peak of our professional practice? 

Again Ejiofor (1987) provides an apt summary:

It is becoming easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a young Nigerian to pass the finals of some of our business professional examination….it becomes difficult for some of  our professional to exonerate themselves from the charged of creating an artificial scarcity of executive capacity, Hoarding educational resources and reaping supernormal profits like reviled, unscrupulous businessmen…To erect walls around our professions without providing without providing ladders, and to surround certificates with moats without providing drawbridges is to undermine the nation’s bid for economic independence. 

This was the setting that gave rise o the emergence of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria. 

THE ADVERT OF ANAN       

The move towards the formation of new professional accounting body in Nigeria, started in the Lagos home of one of the founding fathers on January 1,1979.The Association National Accountants of Nigeria bill was put together and present to the National Assembly. On September 8, 1982, at precisely 11.50a.m, the ANAN Bill was passed with overwhelming majority by the House of Representatives. The Bill went on to the Senate, and had passed through the First and Second Readings, when the Military struck in December 1983. Finally, it was not until August 19930, that the Military Administration under General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd),GCFR, FNCA, finally granted ANAN its charter in the form of Act No.76 of 1993. 

The avowed aim of the founding father of ANAN, is to put together a training programme aimed at:

a)      Raising the status of the profession to a level of comparative dignity and esteem, with other distinguished professionals;

b)      Laying the groundwork for the development of accounting professionals;

c)      Building the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in our professionals;

d)      Defining acceptable standards of professionalism and ensuring the attainment of these standards for all members, through structured training and continuing education. 

In the words of the former President of the Association:

Three crucial decisions informed our pioneering enterprise. First, our founding fathers vowed that never again would secondary school drop-outs be used as the building blocks of professional development in Nigeria ….A B.Sc./HND in accountancy from accredited Universities/Polytechnics would be “the labour pass” to professional practice in Nigeria. Second, we took a firm decision to take accountancy profession off the streets, into the boardroom of Nigerian business……Third, we resolved to restore respect to accountancy as a noble profession among their professions…No more would men and woman, tired and flustered in their chosen careers, be allowed to “trespass” with ease into the accountancy profession at the very top, after perhaps a year’s attachment to a tuition study center (Odumeru, 2000). 

The ANAN plan is a simple three-layered process of executive development:

1. A four-year period study in an NUC/NBTE accredited University/Polytechnic, leading to a B.Sc./HND in Accountancy;
2. A one –year intensive professional training at the Nigeria College of Accountancy. Jos;
3. A two-year Accountant-in-Training Programmed in actual professional practice.

 Thanks to the emergence of ANAN, the accountancy professional in Nigeria now boasts of a number of definite landmark achievements:

• Production f high caliber trained professional for the Nigeria economy; 
• Involvement of both Universities and Polytechnics in the production of accountants;
• The establishment of the College of Accountancy as a Center for Excellence in the production and dissemination of accounting knowledge;
• Raising the entry qualification into the profession to even a post-College level;
•  Compelling changes in the structure and training schedule of other professional bodies in the country.

 THE NCA CHALLENGE: ROLE OF ALUMNI

The Nigeria College of Accountancy is the brain child of the founding fathers of the Association. Borrowing the idea from the Scottish School of Accountancy which offers a three-year professional course in accountancy and modeled after the Nigeria Law School that offers a nine-month post-graduate professional training in Law. The College was fashioned into an amalgam that is entirely unique and peculiar to ANAN. The College receives as its raw materials, finished products from Accountancy Departments in Nigerian institutions, who hold B.Sc./HND qualification. Through a rigorous programme of workshops, lectures and a carefully crafted process of professionalization, they are sent forth as the arrow-head of a new and dispensational thrust in accounting practice. 

It was Sonia Johnson (1996) who said: 

The way in which accountants are educated and the sophistication of that education are critical to the ability of the profession to carry out its responsibilities. A 1993 global survey of accounting education found a positive correlation between the status of the profession and the quality of accounting education….An educational that prepares students for a lower-status profession does not attract the best teachers and students, does not gain government and private sector funding and does not offer a promise for a fulfilling careers. 

The profession of future lies in the hands of the Alumni of this College. By their training and background in the College, the Alumni should be one united force in services of the profession, the Association and the nation at large. The simple process of bringing gradates together from different universities/polytechnics under a common roof, is in itself sufficient challenge and training. They have been taught to aspire to the highest ethical standards in professional practice. Their breadth of knowledge has been widened, their experience depended and their vision extended. 

In a motivational paper presented by this writer in 2001, he identified three different classes of ANAN members. We crave your indulgence to reproduce the classification here:

·         First is Mr Rusty, representing a category of members who have grown rusty in the   brain, marking time in their offices and day –dreaming about greatness. They have learnt nothing and forgotten nearly everything since they left school. They only needed ANAN because their vocational train was about to grind to a halt for lack of professional qualification and recognition. When they attend MCPD programmes they do not come to learn anything; they are only interested in their allowances for travel and board. Empty they come and empty they go. Often, they hide the fact that they are ANAN members except during the Annual Appraisal exercise when they need ANAN for their underserved promotion. We have a nickname for them: NFA-No Further Ambition!

·  Second is Mr. Sharp. These ones are dynamic, sharp, productive and eager for more and more knowledge. Very likely, they are products of the Nigeria College of Accountancy and where they are not, they are ardent believers in self improvement, self-education and self-instruction. When they go for workshops and seminars they go to learn and improve themselves. They are sticklers for excellence, performance-driven and results–driven. They represent the soul of ANAN, the new face of the new dream and the future of the Association rests with them.

·  The third group is called Mr. Queer, for want of a better description; and truly queer they ere. They are comfortable, highly placed and hold good positions both in government and the private sector. They actually believe they are dong ANAN a favor by being members. Their current position may or may not be due to their ANAN qualification but they see every demand by the Association - MCPD, AGMs, etc - as an unwarranted imposition on their time and convenience. Branch, College or National activities in the Association do not interest them. The only problem is that just before they retire, it suddenly dawns on them that they need ANAN.

 The Alumni of the College represent Mr. Sharp for the profession. They must be dedicated, dynamic, committed to self–improvement and sticklers for excellence. They must be creative, innovative, always seeking new ways of doing old things. The vision 2020 Report of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, identified what factors should characterize the accountant of the 21st Century. He should pursue:  

1. Change Management - embracing change and managing change both at individual and organizational levels;
2. Knowledge Management - acquiring new skill in business and specialist areas including non-traditional areas such as strategic planning, industry specialization, and non-financial value measurement. This involves a pro-active anticipation of needs of business in the constantly changing environments, the delivery of services in a flexible manner and the continual adding of value to business;
3. Information and Communication Technology - seeking high level technical skills that will enable them manage and regulate the complexities of operations of global organizations, electronic commerce and computer crime;
4. Global Business Strategy - staking out their position in the global market place, as inertia will ensure diminished influence.

 These same qualities are needed in the alumni of the College if they will truly keep the sacred trust of the Association and the nation. The Alumni of the Collage must always strive to remain on the cutting edge of the discipline. As they contemplates what their relevance should be in the emerging order, they must endeavor to always keep on the front burner, issues that will guarantee a pride of place for the profession in the days ahead.

As individuals and as a corporate body, the Alumni should ensure that they:

·         Build a body of knowledge for the discipline incorporating emerging issues in the profession–environmental accounting, creative and social cost accounting, human resource accounting, fraud management and forensic accounting and management/financial consultancy. Sharing some of their experiences since graduation, can also be an indispensable factor in redesigning the curricula of the College from time to time.  

·         Develop their individual skills and know-how. The accountant of the 21st century must be strong in quantative and communicative skills, in order to make a difference in his environment. He must be a master of figures, yet a tried and tested hand in communication: a system analyst, an expert in O & M, with wizardry in information technology techniques, a management consultant and expert in the nuances of business law, a man  vision, a leader of men. The name of the game, is adding value to clients in the market place;

·         Blaze the trial in the development of accounting thought in Nigeria. They must bring their creative skills to play in charting new courses for old problems. Creativity is the struggle for improvement - the re-arrangement of variables which the individual can effects in search of development. Creative actions provide an organization with a greater variety of solutions to its problem, and more opening for capitalizing on opportunities. Thus, creative actions are a primary source of organizational learning, development, innovation and ultimately, competitive advantage. Above everything else, they must strive to set themselves up as models for the emerging students of the college .You can be a standard, the reference point, the definitive measuring rod, for determining excellence among your peers;

·         Secure the interest of your organization in promoting and extending the work of the College. There are several aspects of the business of the College you can help to promote - publications of the College in form of Journals and Position Papers, workshop which can be organized in partnership with defined stake holders, acquisition of books for Colleges Library, and so on. As an individual, you could also invest some money in the business of the College. This is called putting your money where your mouth is.;

·         As a body, organize regular fund-raising projects for the College. The Alumni Association could organize Annual Fundraising Dinners (at Abuja), National prize and award Night for Distinguished Nigerians, Policy Roundtable to brainstorm on critical national issues and so on. The alumni can also periodically, take on some defined projects at the College Permanent Site, for example developing the MCPD Complex. 

In a paper written by this author in 2004, he raised five questions that the accountants of the new millennium must come to terms with:

a)      Is accountancy actually a profession or is it merely a business?

b)      Should accountants be educated or just trained?

c)      In what way can the accounting tool be applied to the challenge of greater economy, efficiency and effectiveness in national development?

d)      How can the accountant take advantage of the ICT revolution without being sidelined or rendered irrelevant by it?

e)      Would the increases in the number of accounting professional bodies imperil ours position in the economy? 

It is the considered view of this writer that the Alumni of the College, the future of the accountancy profession in Nigeria (and indeed Africa), our pride and our boast, have a duty to find the answers to these posers. Anything less, will not do justice to the great hope and expectation we have placed on you.  

CONCLUSION

In a paper delivered to youths in 2003, this writer shared seven points for development of self-reliance and excellence. Permit me to end this paper with a similar charge. The audience may differ. but the basic principles for successful practice remain the same:

• Develop a vision for your life - Dreams and visions are the touchstones of our character. I indeed, you can tell a lot about a man’s character by the substance and size of his dreams;
• Pursue the Goal of Self-Discipline - Discipline is the choice of achieving what you really want by doing things you do not really want to do. It is the mastery of self, which prepares us to master our situations and circumstances;
•  Acquire Knowledge, skill and competence whenever the opportunity affords – In specific terms, improve your mental power that is ability to concentrate, ability to think clearly and ability of god memory. Also develop the power of speech;
• Learn Commitment - It enables an individual to dig deeper and bring out the extra or hidden physical, mental and spiritual resources that are available to him. it also helps one to be through, efficient and well-organized;
• Develop Courage – Courage with the right convictions, built on integrity and wrapped in confidence, will upgrade performance and increase the productivity of those around us;
• Make the most of the opportunities available to you – Opportunity offers itself to men in direct proportion to their ability, their will for action, their power of vision, their experience and their knowledge of their organization. Luck occurs when preparation and opportunity meet; you can therefore earn the right to be lucky;
• Learn persistence – This calls for the need to persist, insist, be consistent and to refuse to give up. The individual needs to be creative, and to work positively to develop the best option in every situation. he must learn from adversity and failure, building upon the ashes of past defeats to blaze a trail to the future.

You can be the best of what you want to be. The sky need not be your limit; you can fly and soar without restriction. This can yet be your finest hour!!! 

Prof. B.C. Osisioma

August 30, 2007