ICAN, in 2007, attempted to have the bill establishing ANAN declared void, and has not given up the quest to be the sole regulator of accountants
By Anthony Musa, Abuja
Stakeholders in the Accounting and Tax profession in Nigeria have rejected plans to make the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) the sole regulatory body for Accounting and taxation in the country.
While some stakeholders opposed clauses 21 and 28 of the bill to amend the ICAN Act, ICAN insisted that the provisions of the sections were in accordance with international best practices.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), the Institute of Forensic Accounting Researchers and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) warned against conferring too many powers in ICAN by practically making them regulators to other professional bodies.
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CITN’s legal adviser, Chukwuemeka Eze said even though they were in support of amending the ICAN Act, they have reservations with the law defining tax practitioners as accountants and conferring the power of regulating Tax practice in the country on ICAN.
About ICAN
ICAN is a professional accountancy body in Nigeria. It is one of the two professional accountancy associations with the regulatory authority in Nigeria, the other being the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN). The relationship between the two organizations has been tense. In 2007 ICAN attempted to have the bill establishing ANAN declared void.
ICAN was created by an Act of Parliament No. 15 of 1 September 1965 from existing accounting and auditing organizations including the AAN. At the time of its founding, ICAN had 250 members.
ICAN has the mission statement: “To Produce World-Class Chartered Accountants, Regulate and Continuously Enhance their Ethical Standards and Technical Competence in the Public Interest”.
As at 2020, ICAN had over 50,000 members.
In August 2004 the ICAN began providing training on Information Technology for its members.
