President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, (ICAN), Comfort Eyitayo, has said the proliferation of accountancy bodies in the country has become a major threat to the profession.

She lamented that proliferation encourages quackery in the practice of the profession and makes it difficult for unsuspecting public to differentiate between those who are licensed accountants and non-professionals.

The ICAN president, who said this at an event to mark International Accounting Day 2021 in Lagos, stressed that the institute has gazette those who are licensed to practice for the public to deal with the right firms.

The forum featured the presentation of prize awards to winners of essay competition that included Andrew Kennedy, a HND II, accountancy student of the Polytechnic Ibadan; Agumefa Joy, a 400-level student Accounting Department of Osun State University and Olanrewaju Fatimah of Accounting Department, University of Lagos in the first, second and the third positions respectively.

According to her, the celebration was necessary to further project the immense roles of professional accountants globally as they add value by ensuring businesses perform optimally; facilitate governments’ efficacy in the generation and management of revenue and disbursement of expenditure; ensures sustainable control of costs across government institutions and private enterprises; proof processes to forestall financial crimes; offer quality judgements to aid wholesome investment decision; provide pragmatic international trade models; among many other activities.