The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is entering a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Tertiary Institutions (MCATI), a move it says is in line with its mandate to produce world-class chartered accountants and continually enhance their ethical standards and technical competence.
The MCATI will be based on the Institute’s new Professional Examinations syllabus, which is being reviewed in line with international best practices and is expected to take effect from November 2014 professional examinations.
Under the arrangement, accounting programmes of the partnering institutions from entry level to graduation will be jointly moderated by ICAN and its partners. On graduation, candidates will be granted appropriate exemptions and will be eligible to sit the Institute’s professional examinations. The candidates shall also undergo a thirty-six month period of attachment and pass the qualifying examinations of the Institute before being inducted as full members. This new arrangement was part of the deliberation of the Governing Council of the Institute at its August 2013 meeting.
“When the programme is fully embraced by tertiary institutions, the Institute would have found a solution to the challenge of inadequate preparation of candidates for the ICAN examinations,” 49th President and Chairman of Council of the Institute, Alhaji Kabir A. Mohammed, mni, FCA, said.
“The mutual cooperation agreement with the tertiary institutions is one of the proactive measures by ICAN to ensure that individuals seeking to become chartered accountants acquire the knowledge, professional skills and competence required to protect the public interest in a rapidly changing business environment.”
The new arrangement sees the ICAN Council modify the terms of all earlier agreements between the Institute and various Universities, which came into force in 2010 under the Integrated BSc Accounting programme. Consequently, the next admission of students for 2014/2015 academic year will be based on the MCATI, which will incorporate the new Professional Examinations Syllabus.
Established by the Act of Parliament Number 15 of 1965, ICAN is a founding member of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA) and Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA). The Institute produced the first President of PAFA and has a permanent seat on the Board of PAFA. It is also engaged in broadening the frontiers of the profession in Africa by mentoring sister bodies for international recognition.
ICAN is empowered to set standards of knowledge and skill to be attained by persons wishing to become members of the accountancy profession in Nigeria. The Institute has over 36,000 members and about 120,000 students on its registers and conducts four examinations in a year. Its vision is to be a leading global professional body.
Since its inception and in line with its motto, “accuracy and integrity”, ICAN has made remarkable contributions to the nation’s development through its strict maintenance of high standards and regulation of the Accountancy Profession. In line with the provisions of IFAC’s Statement of Membership Obligation (SMO), the Institute raises its standards from time to time.
