President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria Hajia Maryam Ibrahim, says professional accountants in Nigeria are now scientifically trained.

Ibrahim, who featured at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja on Sunday, said such training was in tandem with global best practices.

He said that the collegiate system of training was designed in professional sequence that would enable the trainees to move from one stage to another stage.

According to her, all trainees must pass each of the stages before graduating into becoming professional accountants.

“All associations have their different ways of training; as I said, when we came on board, we believed that we should be looking at effective way and scientific way of improving on what is on ground.

“Others had looked into the future to say that if we truly have to walk into the global happening, we should start thinking of how we can scientifically address the training of accountants.

“You must be able to go to school properly; go through your primary and secondary school, then into the university or polytechnic, graduating with your BSC Accounting or HND Accounting.

“We now accept you into the college, the Nigerian College of Accountancy.

“With that collegiate system of training, you go through the professionalisation training for one year if you are a graduate of accounting, with a two-diet examination.

“The two diet examination –professional examination Part A, professional examination Part B. Ibrahim said that the first stage of the training lasted for one year after which the trainees went into the practical phase under the tutelage of professionals.

According to her, ANAN members are adopted after the practical stage.

The ANAN president said that the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) donated research materials to ANAN centres at three universities in the country.

She listed the universities as those in Kogi, Nasarawa, and the University of Jos.

“We have accounting laboratories where our students are trained in various software to compete with any international professional accountant.’’ She said researches were being carried out in environmental audit, human resource audit, and forensic audit, among others.

Ibrahim said that prospective members must have obtained degree certificates in Accounting, while those with degrees from relevant disciplines would undergo a one-year conversion course.

According to her, the association has a good working relationship with Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

“Some of our members are ICAN members while some ICAN members are our members.’’ Ibrahim said the association also trained students from foreign countries such as Sudan, Niger Republic and Cameroun.