Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN ) 50th Anniversary Essay Competition

Submission Deadline: August 9th 2015

ESSAY TOPIC:

“The Next 50 Years of Professional Accountancy Practice:Making ICAN Globally Relevant”

In commemoration of its 50th Anniversary and in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility, the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has launched an Essay Competition for

students in any field of study in ICAN accredited tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The 50th Anniversary

celebration has been scheduled to take place simultaneously with the 45th Annual Accountants’Conference holding in Abuja from 31 August to 4 September 2015.

The theme of the Conference is: “ICAN: Building on A Legacy of Service”.

The essay competition was initiated not only to exp and the scope of ICAN’s commitment to the

development of Accountancy Profession but also as a modest way of demonstrating its genuine desire

to continuously support and develop the intellectual capacity of Nigerian students.

The Institute had in the last 50 years demonstrated its deep commitment to educational development in Nigeria through Scholarship schemes, endowment of Professorial Chairs, donation of books and computers to higher institutions and recently the building of ICAN Lecture Theatres in five Universities across the country and still counting.

• The Essay Competition is to engage the Nigerian students intellectually and in the end produce enlightening essays on the expected strategic focus of ICAN in the next 50 years within the global professional Accountancy Practice.
• To achieve this, ICAN has engaged KPMG Professional Services to perform certain agreed-upon procedures in order to strengthen ICAN’s process of collation and evaluation of the scripts.

• All students in any field of study in ICAN accredited tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
• Age limit: 26 years by 31st of August 2015

Prizes:

• Best 10 essays to receive plaques, one laptop each,letters of commendation and sponsorship to the conference where they will be publicly acknowledged and presented with their prizes.
• In addition, top 7 from the rear (position 4 – 10) to get a cash prize of N10,000 each
• In addition;
• i. 3rd position gets a cash prize of N25,000 only;
• ii.2nd position gets N50,000 only; and
• iii. 1st position gets N100,000 only.
• Each of the top three will also get full ICAN Scholarship for the Institute’s Professional examinations worth N340,450 covering tuition, study text and examination fees

Methodology

• Essay length to be between 2000 and 3000 words, 12font points and double spaced in MS Word document.
• Clear articulation of the history, current realities/relevance (socio-economic/ethics etc.) of the professional accountant in a global context (past 50 years to the present).
• Critical articulation and evaluation of the role/success of ICAN in the development and evolutionof the Nigerian trained/ICAN certified professional accountants – 50 years to the present (global relevance, reputation, recognition, real and perceived competence, local, regional and international employability and mobility, contribution to national (and international) professional and socio-economic/ethical development.
• Realistic/evidence-based and logical projection of the drivers and evolution, global relevance and expected competencies/skills set of the professional accountant in a global context over the next 50 years
• Articulation of the role that ICAN will need to play now and in the future (in light of 2-4 above), to remain globally relevant as a professional accountancy body over the next 50 years; Including institutional and curriculum reforms and strategic alliances, research contribution and thought leadership etc.
• Essays must have abstract, introduction, main body, conclusion and references
• All entries must be accompanied with a letter of attestation from the HoD of each participant’s
  in stitution
• Participants must submit copy of their birth certificate/sworn affidavit and brief profile
• Only the first 500 entries will be considered
• Winning essays will be selected based on content, grammar and style
• The winning essays will be announced on Friday 21stof August 2015
• All entries must be received on or before 23:59hours Sunday 9thof August 2015
• All entries should be sent to Icanessay2015@kpmg.com
• Participants should write their names on the coverpage of the essay only.