Our Accounting program is set up in such a way that it leads our students to becoming chartered accountants (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria – ICAN, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales – ICAEW, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants – ACCA) in less than 3 years without going through the University or Polytechnic settings.

 The institute of accounting technicians and book keeping at SS Cosmas and Damian College trains student for 12 months leading to the award of diploma as an accounting technician. The institute also offers an exit option from this program with the award of diploma in Book keeping after completing 6 months into the program and if requested by the student. Our students are registered with ICAN which gives them the privilege to access the library at ICAN secretariat, take part in activities such as lectures and seminars or symposia organized by ICAN.

The program exposes students to hands on learning experience as students get job placements in partnering banks and accounting / audit firms where they develop hands on skills by putting into practice their classroom acquired knowledge.

Main Duties of an Accounting Technician and Book Keeper

Your duties depends on the route you take, your qualifications and subsequent work experience. Accounting technicians and Book keepers manage a variety of accounting tasks for a business or company. Both accountants and bookkeepers work to maintain accurate records of finances, and sometimes the terms are used interchangeably. While they seem similar at first glance, bookkeeping and accounting are two very different mediums. Bookkeeping is an essential part of your accounting process. However, book keeping serves as more of a preliminary function, While an accountant may interpret the financial records that a bookkeeper compiles, in order to assess a company’s financial health.

Book Keeping Duties:

• Documenting every financial transaction (payments and expenses)
• Recording all debits and credits
• Sending invoices and processing payments
• Preparing financial statements (balance sheet, income and cash flow)
• Maintaining and balancing a general ledger
• Conducting daily banking activities
• Completing payroll functions

Accounting Technician Duties:

• assisting in the preparation of accounts
• dealing with basic book keeping
• processing and paying invoices
• recording receipts and payments
• preparing and checking ledger balances and other monthly and yearly accounts
• completing and submitting tax returns, VAT returns and National Insurance contributions
• handling company expenses and payroll systems that pay wages and salaries
• using computerized accounting systems.

With experience, you might take on supervisor responsibilities and more complex tasks, such as:

• preparing financial reports
• planning and budget control
• helping qualified accountants with accounts inspections (audits).

Different financial departments require different specialist knowledge. You’ll develop specific skills depending on which area of finance you’re working in.

Self-employed accounting technicians provide a range of accountancy services to businesses. These tend to be in a specialist area of accounting and may include:

• advising on budgets
• advising on taxation issues and ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
• calculating end-of-year accounts

 

Where do Accounting Technicians Work? 

You could be part of a large team, or you could be the only financially trained member of staff in a small enterprise. Accounting technicians can be employed in industry, commerce or the public sector. Most people in this job start their careers in a finance support role.

• accounting firms
• banks and investment societies
• insurance companies
• pension scheme organizations
• local government
• Inland revenue
• manufacturers
• the media
• public utilities
• retail companies
• service industries
• educational institutions
• health authorities
• charities/ NGO’s
• small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where you may be the only qualified member of accounting staff.

Alternatively, you could go self-employed. Freelance accounting technicians provide specialist services to a range of businesses.

Accounting Technician Program Duration

Three (3) semesters of four (4) months each. Each semester would be ended by a compulsory test of all courses taught during that semester a score of 50% would be considered pass mark for the test of each course. Students who fail to archive the pass mark in any course would have to resit the test for that particular course. Any student who fails to score the pass mark in a resit test would be advised to withdraw from the program.

From mid to end of the second semester, all students would be enrolled and sit for the NABTEB Book keepers qualifying examinations, passing this examination and also the end of second semester test, would lead to the award of a professional qualification and a diploma in book keeping. This can be an exit option for students who are not willing to spend more than 6 months in this program.

Students who continue and conclude the third semester of this program would be awarded a diploma as an accounting technician. The graduate would be advised to go on a 6 – 12 months internship with our partnering banks and accounting / audit firms. The graduate would also be enrolled through one of two routes which are ICAN or  ACCA, to sit for the Accounting Technician Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) or Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualifying examinations respectively. On passing the ICAN – ATSWA examination, the graduates would be inducted into ICAN membership and designated AATWA following this achievement. The graduate can get exemptions and sit for the professional examination leading to becoming a chartered accountant. This process is similar to the ACCA – CAT route.

With your ICAN qualification, you can easily convert to ICAEW without any other requirements or need to take any examination. Thus, you are allowed to practice as an accountant in the UK.

With your ACCA qualification, you are globally recognized as an accountant and thus, you can work abroad.

Admission Requirement

Applicant should be able to communicate clearly in English language, and possess a minimum of five (5) credits in not more than two sittings of a senior secondary school certificate examination (SSCE – O’ level) e.g. – waec, neco, nabteb e.t.c. the subject must include English language, Mathematics, either accounting or economics, and either commerce, government or civic education, in addition to any other subjects.

Training Curriculum and Syllabus

Our curriculum and syllabus are in line with those of the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the National and Business and Technical Examination Board.

You can contact us for our detailed accounting technician and book keeping curriculum, with individual topic description, aims and objectives to be archived.

Training Sessions

1. Weekdays:

• Two to three days (2 – 3 days)
• Morning Sessions (Time 9:00 – 12:00)
• Evening Sessions (Time 15:30 – 18:00)

• Saturdays (Time 8:00 – 12:00)
• Sundays (Time 13:30 – 15:30)

• Microsoft Teams and Google Virtual Integrated Classroom.
• Saturdays and Sunday
• Time is 13:00 – 16:00 on both days

Fees and Funding for Accounting Technician Diploma program

Acceptance Fee: Candidates who are successfully admitted into this program are expected to accept the admission by paying a non refundable Acceptance fee of Twenty Five Thousand Naira (# 25,000). The candidates are welcome to begin classes and trainings immediately after accepting the admission, and the tuition fee can be payed subsequently within the program’s duration.

Tuition Fee: A tuition fee of Seventy Five Thousand Naira (# 75,000) per semester is expected to be paid by all students admitted into the accounting technician diploma program, excluding Online students who are to pay the sum of Ninety Five Thousand Naira only (# 95,000) per semester. Students are welcome to discuss a payment plan with our Fees Office.

Examination / Graduation Fee: A fee of Twenty Five Thousand Naira (# 25,000) is charged as Examination and graduation fee, which is intended to cover the logistics cost involved in the production of Examination Materials, securing an External Examiner, and the production on the Diploma Certificate and Academic Transcript. This fee would be charged twice i.e. for both book keeping and accounting technician diploma.

Career prospects

From the role of accounting technician, you could progress to a higher position, such as:

• auditor
• directors of finance division
• finance controller
• internal auditor
• payroll manager
• tax analyst.