Graduates of PAU’s Accounting Programme will now need to write only the final stage of accreditation exams of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). This is the import of a formal communication from the Registrar/Chief Executive of ICAN, Mr John I. Evbodaghe, notifying the University of the approval of the Mutual Cooperation Agreement with Tertiary Institutions (MCATI) Scheme between the University and ICAN by the body’s Governing Council.
As reported earlier, known as ICAN-MCATI, this is the higher of two accreditations awarded by ICAN (the other is known as Basic Accreditation). The key difference is that graduates of departments who have the basic accreditation are exempt from 7 out of the 16 ICAN courses while graduates of departments who have the ICAN-MCATI are exempt from 11 out of the 16 ICAN courses. This means students on graduation only have to write the final set of ICAN exams to earn the prestigious charter. Less than 4% of eligible Nigerian institutions have this accreditation.
Additionally, this accreditation is a license the students can leverage to gain subject exemptions when writing the professional examinations of ACCA (UK), ICAEW (England & Wales) and so many offshore accounting professional bodies who mostly rely on ICAN certification before granting subject exemptions to accounting graduates. The difference between ICAN accredited institutions and non-ICAN accredited institutions is quite significant in terms of length of time spent to become a professional accountant, cost associated with non-exempt subjects which students from ICAN accredited institutions will not be examined again in and other psychological factors.
The formal signing ceremony of the agreement is expected in the coming weeks.