Competition between Professional Accountancy Bodies : A Mirror from Listed Firms in Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to examine the demand for chief financial officers by private firms in Nigeria. The paper expects that: listed firms are likely to employ more CFOs withe ICAN qualification than CFOs with other professional bodies’ qualifications; there are differences between ICAN and non-ICAN qualifications; and CFO’s nationality is likely to influence CFOs qualifying body. Data on 49 firms were obtained from 2012-2018. The paper’s hypotheses were tested using nonparametric statistics. Documented evidence suggests that 89% all CFOs are ICAN qualified accountants, about 98% of Nigerian CFOs are ICAN qualified, while 13% of foreign CFOs hold ICAN qualification. Further evidence suggests that ICAN and non-ICAN qualifications are statistically different from each other. Finally, the evidence indicates that CFOs’ nationalities have positively and significantly influence CFOs’ affiliations. The paper recommends that ICAN should formally be empowered to regulate accountancy profession in the country; or where this is not acceptable to other professional accountancy bodies, all of them should form a regulatory consortium of professional accountancy bodies. It is recommended that relevant government agency should monitor ICAN, or the consortium to ensure that guidelines for accountancy practice and certification in the country are followed.