Do you know that it was on this day in the history of Nigeria that the NASB – The Nigerian Accounting Standards Board now known as the Financial Reporting Council was established?
The NASB was created in the year 1982 as a private sector initiative that is closely linked with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) which, as the only independent body in Nigeria is responsible for the development and issuance of statements of accounting standards for users and handlers of financial statements, investors, commercial enterprises and regulatory agencies of government.
Its primary functions defined in the Nigerian Accounting Standard Board Act of 2003 are: to develop, publish and update statements of Accounting Standards to be followed by companies when they prepare financial statements and to enforce compliance with the standards.
On May the 18th 2011, Senate passed the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria Bill which rescinded the Nigerian Accounting Standard Board Act with a new set of rules. The new FRC bill, most felt would align Nigeria with other countries and improve investors’ confidence. The Bill was signed into law on 20 July 2011.
FRC became a better institution than the NASB. It became a unified independent regulatory body for accounting, auditing, actuarial, valuation and corporate governance so that compliance monitoring can be achieved on these areas on the platform of professionalism and legislation.
