ACI Tasks Audit Professionals on Competence to Boost Investors Confidence

Esther Oluku 

The Audit Committee Institute of Nigeria (ACIN) has called on accounting and audit professionals to strengthen individual competence as they carries out their core function so as to boost investors’ confidence in Nigeria’s financial market.

This is even as the institute called for stronger professionals oversight and data governance as professional adopt artificial intelligence tools to safeguard shareholder trust.

These were submissions made at the 2026 Audit Committee Conference which held in Lagos yesterday, themed; “Guardian of Truth: Informed. Vigilant. Attending.”

In his keynote address titled, ‘The Guardians of Financial Truth in the Age 
of AI: The Challenge of Meeting Society’s Expectations’, Chairman, Audit Committee Institute, Christian Ekeigwe, stated that as artificial intelligence continues to enhance speed in data analysis, AI hallucination opens error margins which professionals must deploy independent competence to address. 

“AI does extraordinarily well, and the profession that fails to deploy them is failing its clients and the public alike. But these tools introduce a risk that is subtler, and in some respects more dangerous, than the risk of inadequate technology adoption,” he said.

In his remarks, Partner, and Head of Audit, KPMG West Africa, Goodluck Obi, explained that because audit statements play a key role in how firms are perceived by the public, auditor and accountants must ensure strong oversight and control, insist on statutory compliance with regulatory authorities and avoid intentional or unintentional misstatements.