Educational Development and Production of Accountants in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward

Abstract

This paper, through the review of relevant literature, examined the factors that had hindered the educational development and production of sufficient numbers of desirable quality of professional and academic accountants in Nigeria from meeting the demands of the growing Nigerian economy. Accordingly, the efforts of the two Nigerian professional accounting regulatory bodies and tertiary educational institutions that share the responsibility for the development and production of accountants in Nigeria were examined. The inhibitive factors were identified to include the late take-off of accounting education and the inherent limitations in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and the poor handling of the production of professional accountants in Nigeria by the two Nigerian professional accounting regulatory bodies. The paper recommended that the contents of the academic and professional accounting curricula be expanded and the duration of accounting education increased from the present four year to five years, while first degree should be made the minimum academic qualification for future professional accountants and for the two professional accounting bodies to get better focused in actualizing their respective statutory mandates if they are to produce globally relevant accountants.

Key words: Academic Accountants; Accountant academic development; accounting education ; Accountant professional development ; Globally relevant Accountants; accounting education