Registering an audit firm with ICAN
How an ICAN member registers an audit firm on the Institute's members' portal, the naming policy and fee, and what follows for the firm's seal and name.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Nigeria
Setting up an audit practice in Nigeria involves several registrations that are easy to confuse: the business with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the members with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, the firm and its people with the Financial Reporting Council. Registering the firm itself with ICAN sits in the middle of that chain. It uses the CAC registration that came before it, and it is a prerequisite for much of what comes after.
This article walks through the ICAN step for a member setting up or formalising a firm: choosing a name, registering on the portal, paying the fee, and the Institute's help with seals and changes of name.
Choosing a name under the naming policy
ICAN's procedures for the registration of audit firms require a member registering an audit firm to choose a firm name in line with the Institute's revised naming policy. The procedures, in ICAN's document on registering audit firms, are the place to start, and the policy is worth reading before the CAC registration is made rather than after.
The order matters because the firm's CAC number is needed for the ICAN registration. A name that clears the CAC but does not meet ICAN's policy leaves the founder with a registered business name the Institute will not accept, and a second round of paperwork to fix it.
Registering on the members' portal
An audit firm is registered with ICAN on the members' portal, under "Licence/Firm Registration". The member enters the firm's CAC number and the membership number of the most senior partner. For a sole practitioner, the most senior partner is the managing partner.
Before logging in, have to hand:
- the CAC registration number, exactly as on the certificate;
- the membership number of the most senior partner;
- the firm name, checked against the naming policy;
- a means of paying the fee through the portal.
The registration fee
ICAN's procedures set the audit firm registration fee at ₦11,500, paid through the members' portal after the firm registration form is submitted. That is the amount in the procedures marked as the latest at the time of writing; check the document before paying, as fees change.
Keep the payment confirmation with the firm's statutory records. It is the simplest evidence that the registration was completed, and the FRC's own registration of the firm, covered in registering an audit firm with the FRC, is a separate process with its own fees.
Seals, name changes and practice licences
ICAN's Professional Practice Department assists members in practice to obtain a practice seal and to change their firm's name. The same department processes fresh and renewal practice licences for qualified members.
Two points follow. A firm that changes its name later goes back through the Department rather than simply updating its letterhead, because the registered name, the seal and the name on reports should all agree. And the partner who will sign needs a practice licence of their own, which is a separate application with its own conditions, set out in getting an ICAN practice licence.
Setting up the Nigeria pack and firm particulars in Achekam
Once the registrations are in place, the firm's details belong in its working system. In Achekam, a firm can set its practice country to Nigeria, work through that country's set-up steps and activate the pack from Settings. Only a Partner or Admin can activate it, and activation shows each effect as done, not available yet or failed. A firm that chose Nigeria at sign-up sees a banner until set-up is finished.
Separately, a firm can upload its logo and record its particulars, and Achekam puts them on what it sends for the firm, such as client e-mails, staff signatures, invoices and the cover of financial statements. A field the firm has not recorded is left blank, not invented. That is a good reason to record the registered name exactly as ICAN and the CAC hold it: whatever the firm types is what clients will see.
Recording registrations for verification
Achekam does not hold ICAN's or the FRC's registers and does not look them up online; its "check online" call always answers UNAVAILABLE. What staff can do is record the firm's FRC register entry and each signing professional's registration, and a different person must verify each one against the official register with dated evidence.
Keep the ICAN side on the same footing in the firm's own files: the firm registration confirmation, the fee receipt and each partner's practice licence, each dated, so that anyone verifying a registration can see the source.
| Registration | With | What the firm keeps |
|---|---|---|
| Business name or company | CAC | Certificate and CAC number |
| Audit firm | ICAN, through the members' portal | Confirmation and fee receipt |
| Practice licence for each signing partner | ICAN's Professional Practice Department | Licence, with expiry |
| Firm and individuals | FRC | Register entry and FRC numbers, verified in Achekam |
Getting the order right
- Read ICAN's naming policy and settle the name.
- Register with the CAC under that name.
- Register the firm on ICAN's portal with the CAC number and the senior partner's membership number, and pay.
- Obtain the practice seal through the Professional Practice Department.
- Make sure each signing partner holds a practice licence.
- Register with the FRC, then record and verify the entries in Achekam.
Done in this sequence, each step supplies what the next one asks for, and the firm avoids the most common delay: discovering halfway through that an earlier registration has to be redone.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
