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Practice of Accounting in Nigeria.


The key role players in the practice of accounting in Nigeria are those organizations that are saddled with the responsibility of providing established rules and standards in the preparation of corporate financial statements, its audit and investigation.

In general, the accounting profession and the Federal Government of Nigeria have always been entwined. Before Nigeria gained political independence in 1960, it had no registered body for professional accountants. The development of the accounting profession in Nigeria became feasible only with the movement towards political independence in the country. Comparatively, however, the accounting profession lagged behind most other professions in Nigeria. It was, for instance, observed that: Although clergymen, lawyers and doctors have been recognized as professionals in Lagos as
far back as the later part of the nineteenth century… accountants were not so recognized because the handful of this group of skilled practitioners at that time were either civil servants or employees of the foreign trading companies based in Lagos (Aribaba, 1990, pp.304).

Further, the handful of accountants in the country at the time were foreigners and it was not
until 1950 that Akintola Williams became the first Nigerian to qualify as a chartered accountant when
he was admitted into the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW). By
1960 there were 15 Nigerian members of ICAEW, one Nigerian member of the Institute of Municipal
Treasurers and Accountants (now the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) and 24
Nigerian members of the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants (now the Chartered
Association of Certified Accountants).

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