CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

          Accounting is a noble profession. It is discipline profession. You must be disciplined from day one as professional accountant and the discipline starts from up dating one knowledge by going into studies come rain or sunshine. The word probity and accountability are regarded as watch words of accountants.

          The history of accounting is not complete without mentioning the name of an Italian Monk and mathematician LUCCA PACIOLO.

          As early as 5000 BC in the Babylon empire, clay tablets were used to records facts. These ways of keeping records, crude, were means of gathering and processing facts and preserving information and they served their intended purposes.

          In 1494, the system of accounting which had evolved among the merchants of Italy was formulated in a book written by an Italian monk, Luca Paciolo. This method, described as the “Italian method” was a simple one although it was possible that more sophisticated systems than outlined by Paciolo existed in larger firms and manufacturers of the time.

          In 1491, in venice, Reverend father, Luca Paciolo described the double entry system by giving insight into the reasoning behind accounting records. The postulated that all the entries must have double entry, one a debtor and the other one a creditor during the period, the records were prepared to show statement for the business rather than the owner.

          After Paciolo, a Dutchman advocated the profit and loss account at yearly interval. The level of civilization and technological advancement helped in the development of modern methods of accounting. Since the discovery of double entry principle, there has been tremendous development in accounting theories and methods. The introduction of micro and mini computers have brought enhanced performance but the fundamental principles remain unchanged.

          In 1982, the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) was formed to set accounting standards that would guide the operations of accounting activities in Nigeria. membership of the NASB include the following:

i.             Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

ii.           Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF)

iii.          Nigerian Accounting Teachers Association (NATA)

iv.          Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA)

v.            Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)

vi.          Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

vii.        The Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN)

viii.       Federal Board of Inland Revenue (FBIR)

ix.          Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)

x.           Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) etc

Accounting as a discipline and noble profession that command respect from all other discipline has gained social recognition and also exhibited versatility, boldness and sensitivity to environment in all its ramification with an all-round competence and readiness to handle issues and challenges thrown forth.

          The aforementioned listed above are known as professional bodies. Now in Nigeria, there are two recognized bodies namely, Institute of chartered accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) and Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          The accountancy professional over the years have been seen by the public mainly from perspective of the work of an auditor who comes to audit after the year and all they see is just a one page report to shareholder.

          Another problem is any mistakes made by an accountants is known to be fraud.

          More so, the fate of the young up coming accountants in Nigeria in the face off between the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) and institute of chartered accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) embolic and the possible effects on the profession is another thing that needs to be checked.

          Another problem is the conflict of goal with reflect in both private and public sectors of the economy. The private sectors are organization own by individual where arms and objective are the provision of goods and services for profit maximization.

          The public sector on the other hand are all organization which are established and run by government on behalf of the public.

          In the private sector the impact can be viewed from the point that the role play boy accountant in the preparation of financial statement and that of auditor in the expression of opinion on the account prepared if the auditor qualified his report such account will have bad impression on the management and can cause fall in the stock price. However such qualified audit report may have little or no effect when considering public sector account since the account is based on fund system (i.e. service oriented rather than profit making).

          The problems of the study in view of the above therefore are as follows:

i.             Difficulties in weighing the impact of the profession in private sector and public sector of the economy with each other.

ii.           Problem of knowing the role of such accounting report

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

          The main objective of the research is to look into the accountancy profession and its impact on the economy. This project is design to enlighten the public that the work done by the professional accountants is far more than just auditing and book-keeping. The importance of profession body in full professional cannot be over emphasis in an economy.

          This write up will therefore analysis the issue of association of national accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) and institute of chartered accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) and make recommendation in an economy.

1.4   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          Looking at the accountancy as a professional constitute the premises of this project work. Professional accountants have crucial role to play in the stream of an economy.

          The kind of professional services they render have direct relationship with integrity, honesty, accuracy, transparency, probity and accountability. The above qualities are what are expected in the performance of their professional engagements.

          The above mentioned area are the means through which the impact of the professional can be felt and this is what the write up is set to focus on.

1.5   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

          The study would increase the stock of accountancy profession knowledge of the research. It affords the researches the opportunity to bring the attention of the public what the professional is all about and it’s relevant in an economy. the study would serve as a useful reference materials to students of accountancy and future researchers would find this work valuable.

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTION

          Hypothesis is an idea or explanation of something that is based on a few known facts but the has not yet been proved to be true or correct.

          For the purpose of this study, the under listed hypothesis need to be tested.

i.             What is accounting?

ii.           How it come into an existence?

iii.          How it has been a solution to problems?

iv.          The concept and convention of an accounting?

v.            Powers and responsibilities of an accountant?

vi.          Professional bodies and accountancy?

vii.        Different between an accountant and some their professions e.g. an auditor

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

          The research of this nature involved operating on stationery transportation and many others. There is problem of insufficient capital in term of money, materials and time, despite this constraints, enough will be put into the write up to justified the time and resources that would be spent.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

ACCURACY: Exactness of an accountant or the act or ability to do something skillfully without making mistakes

ACCOUNTANCY: The work or profession of an accountant.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Expectation or responsibility of giving an explanation.

ANAN: Association of National Accountant of Nigeria

DEVELOPMENT: is a multiple dimension progress change in structure, attitude and acceleration or a state of being advancing to a higher economic state of country.

ECONOMY: is a system for the management and used a resources.

ICAN: Institute of chartered accountants of Nigeria

INTEGRITY: the quality of being honesty and upright in character

PROBITY: the quality of being completely honest

TRANSPARENCY: the quality of something such as an excuses or lie that allow somebody to see the truth.

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