Several professionals in the accounting field have identified some accounting related challenges facing utilisation of accounting for national growth and development in Nigeria, the largest African country in the world.
Some of which include organisations and business firms that fail to maintain accounting records, failure to adopt modern accounting techniques, poor fiscal management by government, which often results to outrageous expenditure deficits, allegations of tax evasion practice, arbitrary pricing policies of Nigerian organisations, etc.
It therefore became imperative, due to the ever changing world and advancement in technology, for accountants in Nigeria to take a critical look into the present practice of the profession with a view to channelling appropriate strategies to square up with future trends and challenges, hence the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in 2011.
The adoption of IPSAS poised a lot of challenges towards financial reporting in the public sector entities, which caused a big vacuum on how to fast track the teaching of the new technique among students, civil servants and those embarking on professional examinations.
Recently, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) organised training sessions on the basics of accounting as a profession for university undergraduates in South Western states of Nigeria, and the last edition was held in Akure, Ondo State.
Akinyemi Adeyemi, the business development manager of ACCA, said: “We believe that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development. We aim to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards.” He also noted that ACCA and other interest groups “actively seek to enhance the public value of accounting in society through international research and we take a progressive stand on global issues to ensure accountancy as a profession continues to grow in reputation and influence.”
In a concerted effort to make accountancy relevant, a tool for national development and facilitate teaching of IPSAS in Nigeria, Kayode Naiyeju the former Accountant General of the Federation and president of J.K. Consulting Company Limited, co-authored a book titled: “Government Accounting in Nigeria: An IPSAS Approach,” together with Eddy Omolehinwa, a professor from Department of Accounting, University of Lagos.
The book evolves on the previous one by same authors, titled: “Theory and Practice of Government Accounting in Nigeria” (2011), which was written to keep the aforementioned and other stakeholders abreast of developments in government accounting in Nigeria.
The public presentation and launching of the book will hold in Abuja on Thursday with Akinwumi Ambode, governor of Lagos State and the brain behind viable taxation and internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state, would be chairman of the event.
