5 Reasons Why You Should Write ICAN Instead Of ACCA

There have been much discussion on which
professional qualifications a person seeking a
career path in accounting and finance should
have.
While the ACCA is an international body with
more recognition, there are certain reasons while
one may chose to write ICAN over ACCA.
I hope to shed some light why it may be better to
write ICAN instead ACCA.
1. Cost of examination .
The ACCA exams has always been more
expensive than the ICAN exams, however with the
recent increase in Dollars against naira, the fee is
even higher than ever.
Currently the average price per course is £80
oughly N35000 and you may have to write up-to
3 courses per diet if you want to finish on time.
ICAN, the maximum you'd ever pay is N70,000
and that is for the maximum number of courses
( 6 courses),other times you'd pay N40,000 to
N55000 for all your courses. So if you have a slim
budget, it may be in your advantage to write the
ICAN exams.
2. Availability of Resources
For the ACCA exams, the resources at your
disposal is someworth limited. Firstly, only few
tuition houses are accredited to prepare students
for the exams. Also, the study material has to be
purchased online and paid for in pounds, another
additional cost. For ICAN however, the resources
needed are readily available online and offline.
And there are a lot of books for purchase to
make studies easier.
3. Statutory recognition.
In Nigeria presently, only ICAN and ANAN has
been given the charter to audit reports. So despite
having the ACCA qualification, you still cannot
sign and approve financial statements unless you
are a member of ICAN, which would mean you
coming back to write the ICAN exams. I know
there are a lot of exemptions. However, isn't it
double cost if you still come back and pay for the
same ICAN exams again? The basic advantage of
ACCA is the recognition in the private sector. But
in term of statutory audit, or even public sector,
you still need ICAN to climb higher
4. Easier to pass
It is generally easier to sit for and pass ICAN. It is
common to see individuals who seat for the ICAN
exams and pass every thing in one sitting. Truth
be told, ACCA is setting the standard which ICAN
follow. So if your goal is to become a chartered
accountant as soon as possible with lesser stress
you are better of writing ICAN instead of ACCA.
5. Patriotism
We always complain our county is bad and not
progressing, yet we constantly leave our home
made things and go for foreign ones. These two
bodies are serving the same purpose. Therefore,
there's no need leaving the one of our mother
land for preference for a foreign body. It pays to
be patriotic and promote the affairs of our own
country.
Conclusion
With the harmonization of accounting standard
and Nigeria adopting IFRS, there is no difference
between the two bodies. Basically they have Very
similar course outline cutting through virtually the
same area. The gap between the two bodies have
greatly been closed. Also, ICAN is an international
qualification and recognized in a lot of other
countries.
Good luck in your career