In Collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD , the council organized a “Train-the-Trainers Workshop on Accounting and Financial Reporting for Micro- Small and Medium Enterprises MSME’s”, the immediate past President of the body and Executive Secretary, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria FRC, Dr Rabiu Olowo has not only consolidated building national capacity for simplified financial reporting and record-keeping, but develped “National Repository Valuation Regulations”, NPVR in accordance with the international best practices.
This is along with strengthening MSME’s on accounting and reporting, the core of the regulatory framework and oversights of the council.
It established a pool of certified trainers to cascade training on accounting and financial reporting nationwide, improving SMEs’ access to finance and compliance with international reporting standards.
Through the establishment of a well thought out valuation standards, capacity building was prioritized, while training and retraining, partnerships along with collaborations became the cornerstone of its activities.
Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, RHI of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which gave adequate recognition nationally and internationally to financial reporting across board, it established the “Technical Working Group “TWG for the development of the valuation regulations and secured Nigeria’s membership of the International Valuation Standards Counci, IVSC.
The singular efforts under the current management of Dr Olowo strengthened global cooperation, memberships, and recognitions through IVSC membership.
In that vein , Olowo led FRC developed and publicly exposed Nigeria’s first and maiden “Valuation Regulations” VR, locally and internationally.
The conduct of nationwide training and retraining in four geo-political zones and subsequent ones across the country oriented 200 professionals, while over 923 stakeholders were also engaged.
This led to the maiden publication and distribution of “Valuation Guide” VG nationwide to bridge , mitigate its activities.
Having attained these lofty ideals, it migrated upward into deepening the operational excellence, digital transformation through the achievement
of the full complement of the seven 7 Directorates by making functional the ‘Directorate of Valuation Standards and the Directorate of Actuarial Standards’, as well as the establishment of the “Sustainability Reporting Unit”, SRU hitherto moribund.
The council also established the Islamic Financial Services Department, IFSD for regulatory oversights of non-interest financial services in the country to replicate the lofty initiatives of developing and developed countries in the area of innovations.
The archaic and outdated database of the council hitherto unattended to was Integrated into FRC’s newly reformed icon to the National Identification Number, NIN verification system, that enhanced data integrity and first of its kind in recent times.
In that vein, the development of Nigeria’s first “National Repository Portal” NRP for audited financial statements — a centralised digital database enhancing transparency, analytics, and regulatory oversights became a pointer to achieving greater results.
It also implemented a Document Management System, DMS and Learning Management System, LMS to digitize workflows and staff training and retraining.
The new order had strengthened FRC’s visibility and credibility ratio, through structured stakeholder engagement, proactive communication, and consistent publication of maiden FRC Newsletter among others, including second editions, 2024, 2025 editions, ISSN: 3092-9520.
The council also launched Nigeria’s first “Journal of Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance”, JFRCG, positioning FRC as a national thought leader and creating a dedicated platform for research-driven policy, professional discourse, and stakeholder Education.
This led to increased compliance participation with 31,799 professionals, 715 firms, and 14,657 companies registered within two years under the leadership of Dr Rabiu Olowo.
The new order led to the achievement of over 60 per cent staff engagement, resulting in measurable improvements in welfare, professional development, and organisational performance.
Furthermore, it also enhanced the council’s technical capacity through professional development of staff both locally and internationally.
This encouraged mass participation, motivation and as part of the new incentives, as the council cleared all outstanding employee gratuity claims and severance packages, thereby ensuring financial closure and disclosure on a clean slate.
Written BY ABUBAKARlUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com
