A brilliant era spanning the accounting profession has come to a remarkable end with the death of apparently the doyen of the accounting profession in Nigeria, Pa Akintola Williams.

He passed at the age of 104, the greater part of which he invested in he accounting profession and produced a generation of chartered accountants through his mentorship.

Pa Williams is reputed to be the first Sub-Sahara 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 changed into the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

He went on to become a founding member of ICAN and was involved in establishing the Nigerian Stock Exchange, now the Exchange Group.

A seasoned administrator, Williams was an outstanding accountant, management consultant, and serial entrepreneur in his active working days.

After his early education in Nigeria, Williams obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Degree (majoring in Banking and Finance) from the University of London in 1946 before he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England.

He worked with the inland Revenue as an assessment officer from 1950 to 1952, when he left the civil service and founded Akintola Williams& Co., the first indigenous firm of charted accountants in Africa (now Delloitte & amp; Touche Nigeria).

Pa Williams celebrated his 104 birthday on August 9 2023.