Accounting Education in Nigerian Universities: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

The primary challenge of a university is to develop quality human capital for every sector of the nationaleconomy. One area of dire need is the production of graduate accountants who are adequately prepared to meetthe accounting challenges of modern businesses as well as the socio-political and economic needs of government.To meet the challenge of producing well educated graduate accountants, three complementing competenciesought to be inculcated in the students namely education, skills and attitudes. These developmental traits musttherefore be incorporated in the accounting programme/curricula. Unfortunately most universities in Nigeria arechallenged by inadequacies in terms of curricula content, staffing, teaching aids and pedagogy, teaching facilitiesand particularly gross inadequacy of funding. This paper evaluates the nature, dimensions and consequences ofthese challenges and recommends strategies that could guide the government, university administrators, teachersand other stakeholders in finding lasting solutions to the problems.