There is
evident shortage of competent accountants in Nigeria (World Bank, 2011), even
world over according to studies such as Jackling and Keneley (2009) in
Australia; Nor, Zaini, and Zahid (2013) in Malaysia; Hammond, Danko and
Braswell (2015) in the US. Professional bodies and tertiary institutions are
addressing this issue vigorously. One approach seen in Nigeria is the
proliferation of professional accounting bodies. Furthermore, for the
purpose of tenure and promotion, an academic may be required to possess
affiliations in the form of membership with professional accountancy
organizations, PAOs; as an associate or a fellow. This has placed demand on
PAOs to churn out qualified accountants for industry placements and academia.

However, the
requirements of established PAOs are turning out to be like the biblical issue
when God insisted that He would not lower his standard for any man, for any
reason. Commentators
and observers have attributed as reasons for the proliferation of professional
accounting bodies to inability to pass qualifying examinations of established
bodies, high cost of acquiring membership of older associations, regional
affinities and other economic factors.

There
are still strong indications that only two professional accounting bodies exist
in Nigeria that is, ANAN and ICAN (World Bank, 2011), while more than, ten
professional accountancy bodies are operating in Nigeria.

Here
below are professional bodies that operate in Nigeria without legislative
backing:

Non-Statute backed Professional Accounting
Bodies in Nigeria

YOE: Year of establishment NI:
No information *ICPAN claim their Bill is awaiting Presidential assent

Statute-backed Professional Accounting
Bodies in Nigeria

YOE: Year of establishment; YOS:
Year of status

Kindly note
that the above list is limited to domiciled professional accountancy bodies.
International bodies such as listed below are recognized in Nigeria.

Errors of professional accounting bodies in Nigeria

Apart from the fact that Acts of Parliament do not back some of the
existing and operating professional accounting bodies in Nigeria, some indulge
in unethical practices identified below:

Conclusion

If the
interest of upcoming professional accounting bodies is to instill the requisite
awareness, knowledge and skill competencies in their members for sustained
relevance of the accounting profession, then there must be dedicated interest
in understanding the dynamic nature of accounting profession, development of
assessment criteria and continuous professional development.   

References

Hammond, T., Danko, K., and Braswell, M. (2015).
U.S. accounting professors’ perspectives on
            textbook
revisions. Journal of Accounting Education.
            http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2015.06.004

Jackling, B. and Keneley, M. (2009). “Influences on the
supply of accounting graduates in
            Australia:
a focus on international students”, Accounting
and Finance, 49, 141-
            159
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.2008.00273.x

Nor, A. S., Zaini, R. M. and Zahid, S. M. (2013). Shortage
of accountants: does mentoring
            helps
to increase the number? Proceeding of the
International Conference on Social
            Science
Research, Penang, Malaysia. 601-609

World Bank (2011). Report
on the observance of standards and codes (accounting and auditing)
             in
Nigeria, 1-32 accessed from http://worldbank.org

Accountancy Glossary  http://www.arnoldhill.co.uk/accountancy-glossary/