The arrangement, which was sealed at a signing ceremony in London yesterday, reflects the institutes’ mutual desire to share expertise, skills and experience and paves the way for dual membership of the two bodies.

CIPFA chief executive Rob Whiteman said: ‘Both CIPFA and ICAN are committed to serving the public interest through good public financial management, therefore it is welcome news that both bodies have come together to form a new collaborative relationship.

‘Through working together both our leading institutes will be able to share information, skills and expertise, it will also develop the accounting profession in Nigeria’s public sector which will have great benefits for the country’s citizens.’

ICAN president Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu added that the MOU was mutually beneficial to both institutes.

‘ICAN has, with this relationship, gained another milestone as the first in the sub-Saharan African region to go into relationship of this nature.

‘This is an exciting opportunity for both ICAN and CIPFA to continue to make the difference in the practice of public financial management in Nigeria. We at ICAN are particularly excited that this MOU is coming shortly after our institute was approved by the International Federation of Accountants to provide peer-to-peer capacity support services across DFID focal countries.’

ICAN has around 40,000 members working across the public and private sectors.