May 8, 2019

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has lauded the pioneering roles being played by the pan-African conglomerate, Dangote Group in shaping the economy of Nigeria for the betterment of Nigerians and the benefit of other African countries. The Institute praised the management of the company for the giant strides it has been undertaking in manufacturing business to make the country self-sufficient in a number of commodities that would have otherwise made the nation spend huge foreign exchange in importing. President of the institute, Razak Jayeola, made these remarks when led the executive members of the body to the Lagos head office of the company on a courtesy visit. He said the company has become a pride of Africa in its trail blazing efforts in manufacturing businesses like cement and sugar which had hitherto caused the country huge foreign exchange to import for which the nation is now self-sufficient and even now exporting. Jayeola also alluded to 650,000 bpd refinery currently under construction which would also save Nigeria foreign exchange which is presently being spent on importation of petroleum products. The institute particularly praised the ingenuity of the management led by Mr. Olakunle Alake, saying “It shows from all indication that he has skills laced with strategy with which he has been steering the company to profitability. “Dangote Group is a pride of Africa, its contribution to job creation is unquantifiable Nigeria has achieved self-sufficiency in cement and sugar through the efforts of the company, Nigerians can’t thank you enough,” the ICAN boss stated. He also explained some of the challenges being faced by the Institute and efforts being made by his leadership to turn things around, disclosing that the institute has commenced stakeholder’s  to address its challenges. Jayeola explained that his leadership was looking towards application of information technology for accounting purposes and that an accounting technology conference has been scheduled as a start up towards the use of technology in accounting. In his response, the group managing director of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Mr. Olakunle Alake, who was also with some management members as well as some staff who are ICAN members, showered accolades on the ICAN leadership for its foresight and orderly manner it organizes institute. Alake explained that DIL is a quality organization that is always in search of quality which was why it company has a large number of ICAN members as staff. According to him, “ In Dangote, we are always trying to grow the economy and we believe that for the economy to grow, you must create jobs. A key element to be a producing nation, we must create a cycle of wealth. That is why we invest and reinvest. “In Dangote, we do not keep our dividends we use it for more investments, any nation that must grow must create jobs, that is why we touch people’s lives positively, we create wealth through job creation.” Alake challenged the government to look into wealth creation for Nigerians through massive job creation.   Source: Leadership

The Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) has trained students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK) on basic accounting skills in order to help them become successful entrepreneurs. The workshop featured paper presentations on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) professional examination, Effects of Drug Abuse on the Youth and motivational interactive session with students. Chairperson of SWAN, Mrs Ijeoma Ugwunebo, who spoke in Keffi recently during the workshop themed: “Catch Them Young,” said the programme was aimed at catching students who have dreams in the accounting profession at a young age to grow the respect to their chosen career and their attitudes towards their career so that they can make positive impacts to their lives and become responsible members of the Nigerian society. She charged the undergraduates in the accounting discipline to take advantage of the opportunity while still in school and to enroll in the professional examinations and the accounting technician skill so that upon their graduation they might have already become members of the accounting profession. According to her, the workshop became necessary in order to equip students with the basic skills of becoming successful entrepreneurs. “We educate the students on the need to start pursuing their professional qualifications early and choose ICAN because of the value of the certificate.” She noted that earning ICAN certificate would opens doors to a wide range of career opportunities in all areas of industry, commerce, finance and manufacturing sectors both locally and internationally and also allows them to specialise in a technical aspect of accountancy such as corporate recovery, forensic accountancy, corporate finance or taxation.   Source: Leadership

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr Razak Jaiyeola, FCA and the MD/CEO Ecobank Nigeria Mr Patrick Akinwuntan believe digital technology will transform the Accounting profession.  They both made this comment in separate interviews with Proshare WebTV on the sidelines of the maiden Accounteks summit in Lagos, organized by ICAN.  The President of the Institute, Jaiyeola,  said that the objective of the summit was to create awareness of the impact of technology in the accounting profession.  According to him “Business models are changing, and  because we account for those businesses it means that the way and manner of the accounts has to change but more than just accounting;  it is  creating another level of responsibility for accountants in the sense that we must start to create value in whatever we do”. Jaiyeola stressed that the summit focused on how the accounting profession can create value through technology and reposition the profession to be more strategic and pragmatic in the digital age.  With emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Big Data and Machine learning, the ICAN President was of the view that accountants have to adapt to disruptive innovations  that will help them be more efficient at their tasks.  He was happy that ICAN members got the message, he mentioned that the Institute would be announcing further  programmes to consolidate on the knowledge of the deployment of technology to enhance the accounting practice.  The MD/CEO of Ecobank Nigeria, Akinwuntan, on his part believed the summit exposed the accountants to the reality of technical issues, security issues and business issues surrounding digital platforms and the use of technology.  Akinwuntan observed that the maiden Accounteks summit, provided an opportunity for the ICAN members to be classified more as ‘Thinking Accountants’, providing solutions to challenges in the financial services industry and economy.  Speaking further he said “A lot of financial outcomes now depend on digital platforms both for transacting, for controls and for reporting activities because most of accounting entries now are generated using technology”.  “Through technology  Accountants can create value, drive efficiency which would continue to improve investor confidence and the credibility of the financial information provided for timely  business and investment decisions” Akinwuntan said.   Source: Proshare