Rotimi A. Omotoso MBA, CPA, FCARegistrar/Chief Executive

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)

IRBA/IAESB Accountancy Education Forum

OUTLINEOUTLINE

Introduction

The 3 Pillars – PreQualification

Students’ DevelopmentPrograms

Members’ Developmentprogrammes

The ICAN Libraries

The ICAN Faculties

Accountants’ Conference

Federal Budget Symposium

Academic Conference

Entrepreneurshipprogramme

ICAN Publications

ICAN PhD Research grants

District Societies andChapters

ICAN CommissionedResearch

Staff Capacity Building

Sample Cases of SuccessStory

Conclusion

Human Capacity Building

•The preparation of an individual for the responsibilities of his/herprofession.

•Human Capacity Building efforts include: Education, Training,Professional Development and Public Awareness.

•Academic or non-academic, formal or informal .

•ICAN focuses on 3 pillars – Education, Examination and Experiencebefore certification, and

•Members’ Continuous Professional Development thereafter

In the next few slides, we will review some specific Members’ Human Capacity Building programmes carried out by ICAN.

INTRODUCTION

EDUCATION

In order to register as a student with the Institute and write ICANexaminations, an applicant must hold an acceptable qualification,namely a recognized degree or Higher National Diploma or a foreignprofessional accountancy qualification approved by the ICAN Council.

EXAMINATIONS

With effect from November 2014, the qualifying professionalexamination of the Institute consists of 16 papers including a case studyspread over three levels: Foundation, Skills and Professional.

EXPERIENCE

Students are required to acquire their practical experience in aRecognized Training Center (RTC) for a period of 36 – 42 months beforethey are inducted into membership. Articleship for a minimum period of36 months in a professional practice is required before a PracticeLicense is granted.

STUDENTS

The 3 Pillars – Pre Qualification

Definition of Training

Training for the purpose of the Institute’s membership means fulltime assignments on a work of an approved accounting natureeither in a professional office, commerce, industry, governmentor a full time/part time study in a recognized institution.

Approved Work of Accounting Nature

An accounting duty is deemed to be approved when such aduty is being supervised by a member of the Institute or beingsubjected to regular audit by a member firm of CharteredAccountants.

Recognized Training Centers

The Institute attaches considerable importance to practicaltraining and students are required to acquire their practicalexperience in Recognized Training Centers(RTC).

STUDENTS

STUDENTS

This holds bi-annually in May and November;• More than 100,000 Professional students on our

register;• 39,664 CAs produced to date.

ICAN PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATIONS

STUDENTS

Examination is organized twice a year in March and September

•108,983 ATS students on our register;•20,082 AATWA members produced to date

ACCOUNTING TECHNICIANS SCHEME FOR WEST AFRICA (ATSWA)

STUDENTS

•Quality assurance of accountancy programs of tertiary institutions and performance standards of tuition centers.

•Accredited Tertiary Institutions: 73 universities and 46 polytechnics are currently accredited.

•Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Tertiary Institutions (MCATI): 4 agreements signed to date.

•Recognised Tuition Centres: 53 Recognised Tuition Centres across Nigeria.

Accreditation of Tuition Providers

•The Institute in conjunction with Emile WoolfInternational, produced the study materials in allsixteen (16) subjects of the Institute’sProfessional Examinations.•The learning materials were developed under aWorld Bank sponsored twinning arrangementbetween ICAN and The Institute of CharteredAccountants England and Wales (ICAEW).

ICAN STUDENTS’ LEARNING MATERIALS

STUDENTS

•The Institute identified that lack of conducive spaceinhibited the number of students admitted to studyaccountancy in some tertiary institutions.•In order to alleviate this problem, ICAN commenced thebuilding of lecture theatres in tertiary institutions in2014. To date, seven (7) lecture theaters have beencompleted. Each accommodates over 350 students.

DONATION OF LECTURE THEATRES

STUDENTS

STUDENTS

• In its strategic efforts to improve the qualityof accounting education in the country, theInstitute in 2015, launched the TuitionHouses’ Support Fund with the sum of fiftymillion Naira.

• The Tuition Houses Support Fund is to assistaccredited/recognized Tuition Houses inareas of infrastructural development andupgrade, provision of Library facilities etc toattract more students and improve learningenvironment.

Tuition Houses’ Support Fund

This is an enlightenment program aimed at introducingprofessional accountancy to secondary school studentsprior to admission to tertiary institutions.

STUDENTS

CATCH THEM YOUNG PROGRAMME

STUDENTS’ RESIDENCY PROGRAM

This is a fully residential workshop organized periodicallyover a full weekend for undergraduate students acrossthe country.

•Aimed at improving the performance of students fromeducationally disadvantaged parts of country.•By bringing quality professional accountancy tuitionhouses to their doorsteps, ISSP has helped to increasethe number and quality of Chartered Accountantsproduced from educationally disadvantaged parts ofNigeria.•The Institute partners with State Governments and NewNigeria Development Company Limited (NNDC) for itsimplementation.

ICAN STUDENTS’ SPECIAL PROJECT (ISSP)

STUDENTS

•The Institute has in place funded scholarship schemes forstudents graduating from tertiary institutions in Nigeria.•Designed to encourage best graduating students from ICAN-Accredited Accountancy program pursue a professionalcareer in Accountancy.•The scholarship schemes are in three categories:

•Diamond – for 1st class/Distinction graduates from anydiscipline•Gold – for best graduating student in Accountancy•Silver – for best graduating student in final level of ICANATSWA examinations.

ICAN SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME FOR STUDENTS

STUDENTS

In commemoration of its 50th Anniversary, the Institutelaunched an annual National Essay Competition for studentsin different fields of study. The purpose of the competition istwo-fold:1. Continued development of professional accounting

education in Nigeria, and2. Continued development of intellectual capacity of

Nigerian students.

ICAN NATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION

STUDENTS

These were The top 10 winners of the 2015 inaugural ICANNational Essay Competition. They were undergraduatesfrom different tertiary institutions and disciplines.

ICAN NATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION

STUDENTS

MEMBERS

Every member of the Institute is required to obtaina minimum of thirty (30) CPE credit hours in a year.Of these, fifteen (15) must be from structured programs. CPE programs are organized through:

• Mandatory Continuing Professional Education (MCPE)• Continuing Professional Education (CPE) • Executive Mandatory Continuing Professional Education

(EMCPE)

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

MEMBERS

ICAN has three well equipped libraries in different parts of theCountry:

•The library at the Main Secretariat at Victoria Island, Lagos catersfor the needs of members.

•Students’ library is located at the Institute’s Secretariat AnnexMainland Lagos.

•A new state of the art library is nearing completion at the ICANSecretariat Complex located at the Federal Capital Territory,Abuja.

•These libraries are equipped to provide reference services;reprographic services; readers’ services; systematicdissemination of information (SDI) services in addition to E-Library services.

THE ICAN LIBRARIES

MEMBER SPECIALISATION

THE ICAN FACULTIES•There are seven faculties created as centers of excellence to encourage specialisation among members.•Members are expected to belong to at least one (1) and at most three(3) of these faculties:i. Audit, Investigation and Forensic Accounting Faculty

-The faculty has trained 401 Certified Forensic Accountants to date

ii. Corporate Finance Management Faculty- 204 Certificates of Proficiency in IFRS initially produced under this

faculty were absorbed by Financial Reporting Faculty.

MEMBER SPECIALISATION

iii. Financial Reporting Faculty - 12 IFRS certificates issued to date .

iv. Insolvency and Corporate Re-Engineering Faculty- 15 Insolvency Practitioners produced to date.

Recently the faculty organized an International Conference on Insolvency and Financial Engineering with over 150 participants in attendance and facilitators drawn from USA, India and Nigeria.

MEMBER SPECIALISATION

v. Consultancy and Information Technologyvi. Public Finance Management vii. Taxation and Fiscal Policy Management

Each of these Faculties organizes periodic Seminars and Workshops tailored to their members’ interests and needs.

ACCOUNTANTS’ CONFERENCE

•Every year 3,500 to 4,000 members attend our Annual Accountants’ Conference.•Every 4 years, an average of 1,000 of our members attend the World Congress.•The objective is to bring members together as a result of geographical diversity of the membership.

ANNUAL FEDERAL BUDGET SYMPOSIUM

The symposium reviews and discusses the Federal Budget with a view to appraising its implementation and recommend strategies for subsequent budgets.

• The event provides a forum for the public to analysis the Government budgets and proffers solutions.

• Over 900 members attend annually.• A communiqué is issued and shared with the Federal

Government.

ANNUAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE

This is an annual event where members in academia and corporate world come together to: • Exchange ideas;• Discuss new trends in the profession and related

fields;• Bridge knowledge gap and;• Provide publication outlet for well researched

papers.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME

This initiative is aimed at encouragingmembers to embrace alternatives to paidemployment with a view to achieving self-actualization.

ICAN PUBLICATIONS

• Membership Year Book, containing lists of members and other general information about the Institute.

• The Nigerian Accountant, the official journal of the Institute, containing authoritative articles on accountancy and related fields published quarterly.

• ICAN News, the official journal for students of the Institute.

• Pathfinder, published after each examination contains the suggested solutions to examination questions.

• Regulations and ICAN Examinations Syllabus

• Members’ Handbook, which is a compendium of the Institute’s constitutional, ethical and legal provisions as well as accounting, auditing and reporting standards.

• ICAN Students Learning materials in hard and soft copies.

• ICAN Journal of Accounting and Finance (IJAF). Research journal covering accounting and finance related issues.

• ICAN Annual Diary• ICAN Weekly E-Newsletters

ICAN PhD RESEARCH GRANTS

•To proactively build top notch accounting educatorsfor the next generation.

•ICAN PhD Research Grants provide N500,000 orforeign currency equivalent to assist each memberundertaking approved doctoral program in arecognized institution in other to prepare them for acareer in academia.

ICAN DISTRICT SOCIETY

•ICAN has over 52 District Societies, including those inCameroon, United Kingdom, United States andCanada.

•Each of these districts organizesSeminars/Workshops and zonal Conferences asapproved by ICAN Council to meet peculiar localneeds of members.

•The District Societies also assist students of theInstitute to prepare and succeed in the examinationsas well as mentoring of new members.

ICAN COMMISSIONED RESEARCH GRANT

In order to encourage research activities which feed intothe training and education of accountants, ICAN providesa research grant of up to N1,000,000 or foreign currencyequivalent per research on approved topics.

•Sixteen (16) fully-qualified ICAN members work invarious capacities within the Institute.•Form themselves into in-house Standards’ ReviewTeams aimed to provide implementation support forvarious Pronouncements of IFAC and other regulatorybodies.•Have built competence in the review of technicalpublications in spite of their day-to-day assignments.•ICAN staffs also serve as secretaries to standingcommittees of ICAN council.

STAFF AND CAPACITY BUILDING

ICAN CURRENTLY PROVIDES CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT UNDER A 2014MoU WITH ONECCA CAMEROON.ICAN HAS PROVIDED CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT (Jointly with CIPFA) TOTHE FEDERAL TREASURY ACADEMY SINCE 2010.IN 2015 ICAN WAS INCLUDED IN THE MAIDEN LIST OF POTENTIAL IFAC PAOCAPACITY BUILDING PARTNER ORGANISATIONS.ICAN MEMBER FIRMS PROVIDE FS AUDIT TO ALMOST 100% OF COMPANIESLISTED ON THE NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE.FIFTY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE – FROM 250 MEMBERS IN 1965 TO ALMOST40,000 BY CLOSE OF 2015.MEMBERS IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS, INDUSTRY & GOVERNMENTINCLUDING CURRENT MINISTER OF FINANCE, HEAD OF THE SERVICE OF THEFEDERATION, AUDITOR GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION, 5 OF THE 36 STATEGOVERNORS, FEDERAL LEGISLATORS, CEOs , CFOs AMONG OTHER INDUSTRYLEADERS.

SUCCESS STORY

SAMPLE CASES

CONCLUSION

Key Success Areas

•Legal & Market Recognition

•Strong Governance

•Sustainable Funding & Business Model

•Adequate Infrastructure & Management Structure

•Relevance and Sustained Public Trust

•Increasing Member Value, Advocacy and Influence

•Professionalism – Quality assurance, Established Investigation & Disciplinary Process