How to Register for ICAN in Nigeria: Steps and Fees (2026)

Your certificate decides which door you use. With a degree or an HND, in accounting or anything else, you register as a professional student and write the 15 papers that lead to the ACA. With five O-level credits, an OND or an NCE, you start with the Accounting Technicians Scheme West Africa (ATSWA). Both registrations are done on the student portals of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). The bank-teller and PIN-voucher routine this page described in 2019 has been replaced.

Every figure here is from ICAN’s website, portal or syllabus. For a body that trains accountants, its pages do not always agree on a figure, so where they differ we give both.

The two routes compared

Who can register

As a professional student

ICAN’s syllabus lists the qualifications its Council accepts:

• a recognised degree of any university, or an HND of any polytechnic, in Nigeria;
• a foreign degree that the Federal Ministry of Education has evaluated as equal to one of those;
• membership of the Accounting Technicians Scheme West Africa, which is how ATSWA graduates move up;
• membership of other approved professional bodies, among them ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, ANAN, the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

The syllabus adds that Nigerians must present an NYSC certificate of completion, exemption or exclusion. If your degree certificate is not out yet, ICAN’s registration page accepts a transcript sent by your school to the Registrar, or your NYSC discharge certificate or call-up letter together with your statement of result.

As an ATSWA student

ICAN’s ATSWA page gives three ways in:

• five credit passes in any subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, in WASSCE, GCE, SSCE or NECO at not more than two sittings, or in NABTEB;
• an OND from a polytechnic that ICAN’s Council recognises;
• an NCE from a college of education.

How to register as a professional student

1. Go to icanportal.org/professional and click “New Student Registration”.
2. Enter your phone number and email address, then click the button for a transaction reference.
3. Pay the registration fee from the form. ICAN’s professional students page says ₦11,400 including bank charges. The form itself shows “Pay 11,200 Naira (charges included)” beside its one payment option, Monnify. Pay what the form asks for.
4. Upload a passport photograph in JPG format and fill in the rest: personal details, schools and qualifications, current job, and a referee’s name, ICAN membership number, phone number and district society.
5. Submit, then print the completed form and sign it. A chartered accountant has to endorse the form and your credentials.
6. Hand in the form with your documents. ICAN gives two instructions here: its step-by-step page says to scan everything into one PDF and upload it on the portal, and its professional students page says to submit hard copies at any ICAN office. Upload, and keep the paper set in case an office asks for it.

The documents ICAN’s pages ask for:

• evidence of payment, or the transaction reference;
• certified copies of your degree, HND or approved professional certificate;
• a birth certificate or sworn affidavit of age;
• for ATSWA graduates, the AAT certificate or Part III result, with evidence of payment for ATSWA induction (₦28,175 before bank charges);
• for married women, the marriage certificate and newspaper advert;
• for any other change of name, the certificate or affidavit.

The syllabus also asks for a current means of identification, such as a national ID card, passport, driver’s licence or voter’s card. The annual subscription falls due as soon as you are registered, and you must be paid up before you can enter for an exam.

How to register for ATSWA

1. Go to icanportal.org/ats, click “New Student Registration” and enter your phone number, email address and names.
2. Click “Monnify” and pay. ICAN’s step-by-step page says ₦8,400 including bank charges, and the form shows ₦8,200 with charges included.
3. Upload a recent passport photograph and fill in the form. It asks for your school certificate results subject by subject, for one or two sittings.
4. Enter your referee’s details and district society. The referee must be an ICAN member in good financial standing, either an accounting technician (AAT) or a chartered accountant (ACA or FCA).
5. Scan the completed form and your documents into a single PDF, upload it and submit. The documents are evidence of payment, your WAEC, NECO, GCE or NABTEB result (or OND result), a birth certificate or sworn affidavit, and the marriage or change-of-name papers if they apply.
6. ICAN emails your registration number after 72 hours. Go back to the portal, click “Register” to set up your profile, then “Pay ICAN” to pay ₦3,750. That covers the annual subscription and a one-off development levy.

ICAN’s FAQ page still describes the old way: a ₦7,500 PIN voucher bought at a bank and a form delivered to Ebute Metta. Go by the portal.

ICAN fees

Registration and yearly fees

For the professional subscription, log in to the portal and open “Financial status”.

Professional examination fees

You pay by level and by the number of papers you enter for in a diet. These are the fees in ICAN’s FAQ and in its advert for this year’s May diet. They exclude bank charges.

Entering a whole level at once is far cheaper than taking it a paper at a time. All 15 papers in three sittings come to ₦48,510 + ₦96,500 + ₦93,870 = ₦238,880. We could not find ICAN’s advert for the November diet, so confirm the amount on the portal’s exam form, which shows what is payable once you choose your papers.

ATSWA examination fees

From ICAN’s fee sheet and its advert for the most recent September diet. Bank charges of ₦300 are extra.

All three parts, four papers each: ₦30,900 + ₦33,700 + ₦37,900 = ₦102,500. You cannot pick one or two papers from a part unless you have passed, or been exempted from, the others.

Exemption fees

An exemption lets you skip papers your earlier qualification already covers. ICAN charges for it by the number of papers skipped at each level:

What some common qualifications get, from the exemption guide on ICAN’s students page:

On the ATSWA side, an OND or NCE in Accounting from an accredited institution is exempted from Parts I and II for ₦28,300. An OND in Accounting from an institution that is not accredited gets Part I only, for ₦13,400.

ICAN warns that a wrong exemption payment is not refunded. You cannot apply for an exemption and an exam at the same time, so wait for the exemption to be approved before paying for the exam.

The exams and when they hold

Professional examination

There are two diets a year, in May and November, and each runs for three days. ICAN publishes the timetable for the coming diet on its website. The syllabus in force has three levels:

• Foundation, four papers: Business Environment; Financial Accounting; Management Accounting; Corporate and Business Law.
• Skills, six papers: Financial Reporting; Audit, Assurance and Forensics; Taxation; Performance Management; Financial Management; Public Sector Accounting and Finance.
• Professional, five papers: Strategic Business Reporting; Advanced Audit, Assurance and Forensics; Strategic Financial Management; Advanced Taxation; Case Study.

The pass mark is 50% in each paper. You keep credit for every paper you pass, but you must finish a level before starting the next, and two levels cannot be combined. The Professional level has a clock on it: ten diets, which is five years, or the credits at that level are lost.

Exam registration and payment are on the portal only. ICAN’s advert for the May diet said payments through commercial banks are no longer accepted. The syllabus says entries close a week before the exam. You need a scanned passport photograph on a white background and a scanned signature, each a JPEG of 20KB or less. There are more than 60 centres in Nigeria, plus London and Cameroon.

ATSWA

ATSWA also has two diets, in March and September. Registration for a diet opens about four months before it and closes a few days before the first paper. ICAN has brought in a new ATSWA syllabus, so check that you are studying from the current one.

• Part I: Basic Accounting; Economics; Business Law; Communication Skills.
• Part II: Financial Accounting; Public Sector Accounting; Quantitative Analysis; Information Technology.
• Part III: Principles of Auditing and Assurance; Cost Accounting; Taxation; Management.

You take one part at a time, in order. ICAN puts the shortest time to finish at 15 months for someone starting with O-levels.

Which route to pick

• You have a degree or HND in any field: register as a professional student. ATSWA would only put more exams between you and the same starting line.
• You have O-levels only: ATSWA is the way in. With the AAT certificate you can register as a professional student and be exempted from the whole Foundation level and two Skills papers.
• You have an OND or NCE in Accounting from an accredited institution: ATSWA with the exemption. For ₦28,300 you skip Parts I and II and write only Part III, at ₦37,900 for the four papers.
• You are an accounting graduate: check whether your school is on ICAN’s accredited or MCATI list before you pay for anything, because the exemption depends on it.

One sum is worth doing before you claim an exemption. A graduate of an accredited accounting department pays ₦80,100 to skip Foundation and one Skills paper, then ₦84,740 for the other five Skills papers and ₦93,870 for the Professional level: ₦258,710 in all. Writing all 15 papers costs ₦238,880, so the exemption costs ₦19,830 more. What it buys is time, at least six months with only two diets a year. The MCATI exemption saves both: ₦135,100 plus ₦93,870 is ₦228,970, and you go straight to the last level.

After the exams

Passing the papers does not make you a member. ICAN’s membership page asks for relevant work experience before induction: 36 months for accounting graduates, and 48 months for graduates of other disciplines and for AAT holders. The syllabus also requires a computer-based test on professional ethics, which you can take at any point as a student.

The induction fee is another place where ICAN’s page disagrees with itself: one paragraph says ₦130,000 and the next says ₦150,000. You apply for induction on the portal, and the amount it charges is the one that counts.

For anything the portal does not settle, ICAN’s contact centre is on 07007024226 or [email protected].

Quick answers

How much is the ICAN registration fee?

ICAN’s pages say ₦11,400 for professional students and ₦8,400 for ATSWA students, bank charges included. The portal’s forms show ₦11,200 and ₦8,200.

Can I register for ICAN with only SSCE?

Yes, through ATSWA. You need five credits including English Language and Mathematics, in not more than two sittings.

How many times a year are ICAN exams held?

Twice for each route. The professional examination holds in May and November, and ATSWA in March and September.

How much is the ICAN exam fee per paper?

There is no flat price per paper. One Foundation paper is ₦26,570 and all four are ₦48,510. One Skills paper is ₦37,490 and all six are ₦96,500. One Professional paper is ₦40,740 and all five are ₦93,870.