‘Leadership Training will Make Female Accountants Excel’

A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Managing Director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mrs. Yemisi Edun has called on the foremost professional accountancy body and its affiliates to prioritise leadership development programmes for female accountants.

She made the call during the investiture of Mrs. Catherine Nnaji as the 10th President of the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) and the swearing-in of her new executives in Lagos. SWAN is a national body dedicated to serving all female members of ICAN. Mrs. Edun, who worked in leadership roles that include Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director before her elevation as Managing Director, was the keynote speaker at the event. She urged SWAN and ICAN to prepare female accountants for expansive roles that would move them from compliance officers to business advisors and ultimately to senior leadership roles.

However, she decried the under-representation of female accountants in senior leadership roles.

She urged ICAN and SWAN to take advantage of the increasing number of women studying for a professional degree in accountancy and those employed in accounting roles to train and scale female representation in the C-Suite of large corporations progressively.

Edun commended the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria for unifying the qualified women of the ICAN under a platform that provides leadership, mentorship, networking, education, and empowerment.