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ICAN urges accredited institutions to sustain professional standards

By Victor Gbonegun
27 April 2021   |   3:08 am
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has charged its newly accredited 63 tertiary institutions and tuition centres to sustain the standards that qualified them for the highly coveted certificate of the institute. The President ICAN, Dame Onome Adewuyi, gave the charge during the award of certificate of accreditation and recognition to the institutions…

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has charged its newly accredited 63 tertiary institutions and tuition centres to sustain the standards that qualified them for the highly coveted certificate of the institute.

The President ICAN, Dame Onome Adewuyi, gave the charge during the award of certificate of accreditation and recognition to the institutions in Lagos.

She warned that to lower such standards would ultimately impact negatively not only on professionalism but also on the quality of human capital ICAN supply the economy through its 63,000 members.

The figure showed that twenty-three universities; fourteen polytechnics and twenty-nine tuition houses were beneficiaries of the award.
She stated that the principal objective for the accreditation/recognition exercise stems from its findings that grooming proficient professionals requires quality control in the preparatory training they receive, the quality and number of those delivering the training,  and instructional facilities under which such training is provided.

These, she explained, would not only guarantee an enabling learning environment but also increase students’ performance in different stages of the Institute’s examinations.

She said in keeping with the institute’s statutory mandate of setting standards and regulating the practice of accountancy in the country and its vision to produce future-ready chartered accountants, the council resolved to accredit centres where its registered students could receive appropriate and qualitative technical and academic training.

Essentially, Adewuyi said the accreditation of tertiary institutions and tuition centres by the Institute is aimed at guaranteeing quality accounting education that meets global standards as spelt out by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and the same standard that ICAN examinations are structured after.

On the criteria for the recognition, the president said, “the Institute’s Visitation Teams to tertiary institutions and tuition centres are charged with the responsibilities to; ascertain the extent to which the accountancy programmes of these institutions conform to the Institute’s education and training policies, evaluate the performance of the institutions to ensure that they satisfy the prescribed minimum standards of infrastructure, number of qualified professional staff, standard library, accounting curricula and suitable examination procedures.

“Ascertain the extent to which the institutions’ Accounting Programme conforms to the syllabus of the Institute, explore areas of co-operation between the Institute and the Schools to further enhance students’ performance at the Institute’s professional examinations; and encourage developmental efforts by the institution and identify policy areas where review is required to be carried out.”

According to her, the institute also ensures that regular monitoring visits are scheduled to the Institute’s accredited institutions and tuition centres to reaffirm that the set standards and criteria are not compromised. Such revisions, she said, afford the various teams the opportunity to confirm that the institutions and tuition centres have addressed the weaknesses highlighted during the previous visits.

Adewuye disclosed that the Institute’s syllabus has been restructured to reflect emerging developments and expand the contents of the various subjects against the backdrop of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the new normal. She also emphasized that ICAN is taking into consideration the need to build the capacity of intending members in such areas as effective communication, integrity, accuracy and good professional judgment.

The Chairman, Students’ Affairs Committee, ICAN Chief Oyemolu Akinsulire, who said the institute started the process in 1972, disclosed that it has so far accredited and re-accredited at various times, a total of 85 Universities, 53 Polytechnics and recognised 97 Tuition Centres adding that it’s a worthy achievement for the Institute.

He reiterated that the Institute was not relenting on its efforts towards ensuring that the National University Commission and National Board for Technical Education’s accredited Institutions offering Accounting/Accountancy are encouraged to get ICAN accreditation.

“In achieving the objectives, the Institute sets a standard in all the parameters to be followed by the accreditation team at which an Institution should score a minimum of 70 per cent before qualifying for full accreditation for four academic sessions”, he said.

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