The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) has called on small and medium-scale business owners to integrate formal financial reporting practices into their core operations. The advisory was delivered at the SMEs Financial Reporting Awareness Campaign held in Awka, Anambra State, organized under the theme “Benefits for Businesses, Cooperatives and the National Economy.” Representing the Executive Secretary of the FRC, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, the Director of Accounting Standards for the Private Sector, Kabiru Jemaku, characterized SMEs as the bedrock of the country’s economic architecture. He emphasized that proper financial disclosure extends far beyond basic record-keeping, serving as a vital strategic asset to unlock corporate lines of credit, inform strategic management decisions, and build institutional investor confidence.
To assist resource-constrained business owners, Jemaku explained that the FRC is actively deploying simplified, scaled-down financial reporting frameworks alongside continuous capacity-building workshops to lower compliance barriers. Supporting this initiative, Edwin Olorunfemi, Executive Director of the New Era for Sustainable Leadership and Accountability Initiative (NESLAI), commended the commercial resilience of Anambra’s merchant community while emphasizing that long-term corporate survival relies on accounting transparency and professionalism. Furthermore, Engr. Mike Obiekwe, Permanent Secretary of the Anambra State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, lauded the campaign as highly timely and urged the FRC to replicate the institutional training model across all remaining states to drive nationwide microeconomic formalization.
