The doyen of the accounting profession, Akintola Williams, died at the age of 104.
Pa Williams is reputedly the first Sub-Saharan African to become a chartered accountant after he passed the qualifying examination of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) in 1949.
The icon played a leading role in the development of the accountancy profession in the country by facilitating the establishment of the Association of Accountants in Nigeria, which metamorphosed into the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Chronicle NG highlights fourteen (14) things to know about the late pioneer chartered accountant.
1. Chief Akintola Williams was born on August 9, 1919, in the United Kingdom.
2. He began his education at Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole Street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, Lagos, in the early 1930s.
3. He went to Yaba Higher College on a UAC scholarship, obtaining a diploma in commerce.
4. He travelled to England in 1944, where he studied at the University of London.
5. He studied banking and finance and graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Commerce.
6. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1949 and became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).
7. Akintola Williams was the first Nigerian to qualify as a chartered accountant.
8. In 1952, he founded the first indigenous chartered accounting firm in Africa, Akintola Williams & Co., in Lagos.
9. He was a founding member and first president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
10. Williams played a leading role in establishing the Association of Accountants in Nigeria in 1960 with the goal of training accountants.
11. He played an invaluable role in the establishment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
12. He was the elder brother of the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, QC, SAN (December 16, 1920–March 26, 2005).
13. He was honoured with the Order of the Federal Republic by the Nigerian government in 1982.
14. He was honoured with the title Commander of the British Empire in April 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II.
