THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING IN NIGERIA (WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE KEY ROLE PLAYERS IN EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PRACTICE)

      The first complete description of the double-entry system was included in a book called Summa de Arithemetica, Geometiria proportioni et Proportionality, published in 1494 by a Franciscan monk named Loca Pacioli . Government regulation and income tax legislation have resulted in an increased need for accounting system in both their record-keeping and communication functions. The double-entry system developed by the early Italian merchants is essentially the same system used today to satisfy the increased demand for accounting information. 

Accounting has developed as a profession and has attained a status equivalent to that of law and medicine. According to Ogundele (1991), formal accounting and accountability, as we know it today, evolved in the country with the advent of the expatriate adventures (plunderers) into our land. The development of accounting in Nigeria can be traced to the time when the companies’ ordinance can be said to start in the early fifties when the Nigerian Colleges of Arts, Science and Technology were established in Ibadan, Enugu and Zaria and the development of the departments of accounting in the Nigerian Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology. 

Just after the country’s independence, the idea of establishing a professional body of accountants in the country became a burning issue in the mind of a few accountants who coordinated the establishment of “The Association of Accountants in Nigeria” incorporated under the companies Act, 1958. The main objectives of the Association were to provide a central organization for accountants in the country, to maintain a strict standard of professional ethics, and to provide for the training, examination and local qualification of students in accountancy. 

The profession was given a fillip in 1965 when an Act of parliament established the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. The Institute by a section of its Act was empowered with the general duty to, inter alia, determine what standards of knowledge and skill to be attained by the persons seeking to become members of the accountancy profession, as circumstances would permit. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) was the only professional body regulating the accounting profession in Nigeria until 1st January, 1979, when another accounting association known as the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN, 1980, p.4) was founded to perform duties similar to those being performed by ICAN. In fact, it can be safely said that ICAN was awakened from its slumber with the birth of ANAN. From that time on ICAN put its house and machinery for professional training in order. The rejuvenation process resulted in improved statistics of trained accountants from 1,927 in 1980 to 4,107 in 1988 (Ogundele, 1991).

Training and Education of Accountants Training can be defined as the process of teaching and giving instruction to say, a child, students, soldier or an animal to bring a desired standard of behaviour, efficiency or physical condition (Wintoki, 1997, p.47). 

The simple Webster’s II Dictionary (1987) defines education as the act or process of educating or being educated, the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by such process on the field of study concerned with teaching and leaving pedagogy, for students to look beyond specific situations, to see general principles or applications and to appreciate more the context and environment of the field of study. Education seeks to create the ability in a student to understand the concepts behind his subject, so that he is better alive to apply it. The term “accounting education” can be defined in many ways. It can be used to describe education for accountants, that is those instructions decreed to be necessary for potential accountants to acquire in order to gain their professional qualifications. It can also be used to describe the expansion of an extension of knowledge and the development of judgment of those who have already become accountants. In other words, it is the education of accountants either in practice, industry or commerce or wherever they are employed. Such education is undertaken in an effort to update and increase the scope of the knowledge of the accountants. Another veritable definition of accounting education can be regarded as that field of study which emphasizes the continuous and systematic development of the accounting knowledge, skills and attitudes of man to enable him contribute positively to the growth of the society to which he belongs (Durukwuaku, 1997). From the foregoing definition, it can be seen that accounting education bridges the gap with the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired in the process of education. Accounting education is a valued key to upward mobility. Along with hardwork and responsibility, it is the cornerstone used by the accounting professionals to achieve productive membership in the society and, hence, the key for setting standards of professional excellence. To qualify as a professional accountant, one is expected to have the following basic attributes, which must be acquired from training and education. 

1. Technical Skills The mastery of concepts, procedures, principles and techniques, which will facilitate that job in accordance with set professional standards, are basic requirements. These fundamental principles call for a member to carry out his or her professional work with proper regard for the technical and professional standard expected of him as a member. 

2. Intelligence The professional accountant in order to fully apply basic principles must be intellectually curious and energetic. He must have a desire to understand conflicts and ability to resolve them. He must possess tact and interpersonal skills that are required in the execution of this professional role. 

3. Personality An accountant must work effectively with clients, associates, and staff. He must possess personality traits, which must include the ability to get along with people. He should be able to communicate effectively and his communication must be presentable, reasonable and logical. 

4. Conduct A professional accountant, when fully trained, must apply decorum in whatever role he finds himself in the society. It is not enough to answer to the title “professional accountant” or parade chains of accounting certificates. Accounting education is strategic when the roles of its products are considered in a socio-economic environment. Accounting education, therefore, should evolve from a continuing relationship and dialogue between academic on one hand, and the accounting profession on another. It should not be seen as an end in itself, especially in the production of competent accountants, but as a means of an end, which is to facilitate accountability in both public and private sectors of the economy (Ogbomo, 1997). The objectives of training are to: (i) sharpen the skill of a person, be it professional skill or otherwise; (ii) put in place the power to disseminate information about the knowledge of the skill (Badejo, 1997, p.13) Nigeria, being a developing country, needs a well-developed accounting profession to aid her development process. As pointed out earlier on, the only hitherto regulating and examining body for the profession is the ICAN. Before the establishment of the Institute, only a handful of Nigerian universities and polytechnics had any programme for accounting degrees or diplomas. On a careful analysis, the accounting needs of a developing country have been found to involve three main elements (AAA, 1978, p.7) namely: 

(a) Relevant accounting and auditing standards; 

(b) Effective training of accountant 

(c) Recognition of the accounting function as a tool for national economic development 

Before the establishment of ICAN, training for the accounting profession was provided by polytechnics (or colleges of technology) in the country, in preparation for some British professional bodies’ examinations. Accounting did not start as a university course until 1962 when the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was established. Following this, were the University of Lagos and the Ahmadu Bello University, both established in 1962, when accounting degree courses were included in their curricula. Although, the University of Ibadan was established in 1948, it had not included accounting as a major course till date. Consequently, those that graduated from these universities could only be qualified as accountants by taking professional examinations. The institutions of higher learning encountered many problems with the training of accounting graduates. There were problems of inadequate staffing, high turnover of the few available staff members, and inadequate facilities for research and teaching purposes. Table I in appendix shows the total number of graduates of accounting from the University of Lagos between 1972/1973 and 1999/2000 academic sessions. 

Source: Webster, Wikipedia  (Helmkamp, Imdieke and Smith, 1986, p.3; Glautier and Under Down, 1982, p.5; Omolehinwa, 1994; Ogundele, 1991, p.9)