The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland | ICPAS
ICPAS Survey Report 2026Interactive web edition
Accounting education supply survey
The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland
Supply trends and graduate forecasts from Somaliland universities, 2021-2025.
Published by ICPAS · Hargeisa, Somaliland · 2026
2,847
confirmed accounting graduates
Cumulative output from seven participating universities across the five academic years from 2021 to 2025.
748graduates in 2025, the highest year recorded
13.1%compound annual growth in output
46.7%female share of 2025 graduates
1,808students in the near-term pipeline
68known lecturers across six universities
A profession expanding faster than its supporting systems.
Somaliland's universities are producing more accounting graduates each year, and gender parity is within reach. The policy challenge is to ensure that academic quality, faculty capacity and employer demand grow with the pipeline.
Supply has accelerated. Annual output rose from 457 graduates in 2021 to a record 748 in 2025. The five-year compound annual growth rate of 13.1% establishes a strong upward trajectory.
Capacity is under pressure. The near-term pipeline contains 1,808 senior and junior students. Several major institutions already report more than 30 students per accounting lecturer.
Growth in graduate numbers is an opportunity only when education quality and labour-market absorption keep pace.
850-960
projected 2026 graduates
Indicative range based on the 958 senior students currently enrolled.
2.4x
the 2025 annual output
The combined senior and junior pipeline compared with the latest graduating class.
Five years of change, viewed three ways.
Switch between annual output, progress toward gender parity and the institutional distribution of graduate supply. The tabs work without JavaScript.
Output reached a new high after a brief pause.
The bars are scaled against the 2025 record. The 2024 decline was followed by a 31.0% surge in 2025.
2021457
2022488
2023583
2024571
2025748
Gender parity is moving within reach.
The female share increased by 9.9 percentage points. Female graduate numbers grew at more than twice the male rate.
2021 female share36.8%
2022 female share37.5%
2023 female share37.0%
2024 female share43.4%
2025 female share46.7%
More than half of confirmed output comes from two universities.
University of Hargeisa and Amoud University account for 52.9% of the five-year total.
University of Hargeisa29.4%
Amoud University23.5%
Admas University15.1%
Burco University11.8%
Civil Service Institute10.9%
Beder International University8.3%
The trajectory is firmly positive, but not perfectly smooth.
Three phases define the survey period: moderate expansion, accelerated growth, then a brief decline followed by the strongest annual increase.
Period
Change
Interpretation
2021 to 2022
+6.8%
Moderate expansion as university operations stabilised.
2022 to 2023
+19.5%
Accelerated growth and possible cohort catch-up.
2023 to 2024
-2.1%
A marginal pause, not a structural reversal.
2024 to 2025
+31.0%
The strongest single-year surge and a new output benchmark.
Five-year trend
13.1% CAGR
Sustained expansion in accounting graduate supply.
29.4%
Largest provider
University of Hargeisa produced 838 graduates over five years.
29.4%
Fastest institutional CAGR
Beder grew from 26 graduates in 2021 to 73 in 2025.
64%
Capital concentration
Approximate share produced by Hargeisa-based institutions.
Female graduate growth is transforming the pipeline.
Women remain a minority across the five-year total, but the direction of change is exceptionally strong and increasingly visible across institutions.
20.1%
female graduate CAGR
More than double the approximately 8.4% male growth rate.
0.875
2025 Gender Parity Index
Up from 0.581 in 2021; a value of 1.0 indicates parity.
Female numbers more than doubled. Annual female graduates increased from 168 to 349, a rise of 107.7% across four years.
Progress is uneven by institution. University of Hargeisa reached 56.7% female graduates in 2025, while the Civil Service Institute reported 24.5%.
The next step is to convert educational parity into equal access to professional qualification, employment and leadership.
The next cohorts are already larger. Faculty investment cannot wait.
Six universities report 958 senior and 850 junior accounting students. The pipeline is broadly stable, but teaching capacity varies sharply.
958
Senior students
The most direct indicator of 2026 graduating potential.
850
Junior students
The approximate 2027 cohort, subject to completion and retention.
26.6:1
Average student ratio
Based on the 68 reported lecturers across six universities.
Institution
Students per lecturer
Capacity signal
University of Hargeisa
43.9:1
Highest reported pressure and a priority for faculty expansion.
Amoud University
35.3:1
High student load relative to the reported faculty.
Admas University
34.4:1
High ratio requiring quality assurance attention.
Civil Service Institute
25.6:1
Above the report's referenced professional-programme benchmark.
Burco University
14.7:1
More manageable within the reported data.
Beder International University
14.6:1
Lowest reported ratio, alongside a rapidly growing junior cohort.
1
Measure annually
Standardised graduate, enrolment and faculty returns.
2
Protect quality
Accreditation standards for faculty, curriculum and competencies.
3
Map demand
Compare graduate supply with employer absorption capacity.
4
Develop faculty
Recruitment, postgraduate study and educator CPD.
Manage growth as a national education and workforce system.
Open each stakeholder group to review the priority actions proposed by the report.
01ICPAS
Establish an Annual Accounting Education Data Return for accredited programmes.
Develop a formal Programme Accreditation Framework covering faculty, ratios, curriculum and graduate competencies.
Launch a Women in Accounting initiative with scholarships, mentoring and professional networks.
Commission a complementary labour-market demand survey and establish an annual Accounting Education Forum.
02Universities
Prioritise lecturer recruitment and professional development to reduce high student loads.
Strengthen administrative data systems, particularly in institutions serving eastern regions.
Track employment, professional-examination uptake and graduate career outcomes.
03Government
Co-invest with ICPAS in national accounting education quality assurance.
Support faculty postgraduate scholarships and institutions outside the capital.
Incentivise the geographic expansion of high-quality accounting education in eastern Somaliland.
04Employers
Report hiring plans and skill needs to support annual supply-demand alignment.
Expand graduate internships and traineeships to build practical experience.
Engage with universities and ICPAS on curriculum relevance and professional pathways.
The first multi-institution baseline of its kind.
ICPAS collected standardised institutional data covering graduation, gender, enrolment and faculty capacity for 2021-2025.
Coverage. Seven of fourteen targeted universities responded. Participating institutions are understood to represent much of national accounting education capacity, but totals remain confirmed rather than exhaustive.
Data quality. Figures were self-reported and not independently verified. Sanaag data are partial, and faculty qualification information was not collected.
Interpretive caution: projections depend on completion and retention; graduate supply does not itself demonstrate labour-market demand, job readiness or employment outcomes.
How to cite this report
Open a style and copy the institutional reference.
Suggested citation
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland (ICPAS). (2026). The accounting talent pipeline in Somaliland: Supply trends and graduate forecasts from Somaliland universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa, Somaliland: ICPAS.
Harvard
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland (ICPAS) (2026) The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa: ICPAS.
Chicago
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland. The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa: ICPAS, 2026.
BibTeX
@report{icpas2026pipeline, title={The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025)}, author={{Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland}}, institution={ICPAS}, address={Hargeisa, Somaliland}, year={2026}}
Short in-text form: (ICPAS, 2026). Add the permanent webpage URL after online publication if required.
The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland | ICPAS
ICPAS Survey Report 2026Interactive web edition
Accounting education supply survey
The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland
Supply trends and graduate forecasts from Somaliland universities, 2021-2025.
Published by ICPAS · Hargeisa, Somaliland · 2026
2,847
confirmed accounting graduates
Cumulative output from seven participating universities across the five academic years from 2021 to 2025.
748graduates in 2025, the highest year recorded
13.1%compound annual growth in output
46.7%female share of 2025 graduates
1,808students in the near-term pipeline
68known lecturers across six universities
A profession expanding faster than its supporting systems.
Somaliland's universities are producing more accounting graduates each year, and gender parity is within reach. The policy challenge is to ensure that academic quality, faculty capacity and employer demand grow with the pipeline.
Supply has accelerated. Annual output rose from 457 graduates in 2021 to a record 748 in 2025. The five-year compound annual growth rate of 13.1% establishes a strong upward trajectory.
Capacity is under pressure. The near-term pipeline contains 1,808 senior and junior students. Several major institutions already report more than 30 students per accounting lecturer.
Growth in graduate numbers is an opportunity only when education quality and labour-market absorption keep pace.
850-960
projected 2026 graduates
Indicative range based on the 958 senior students currently enrolled.
2.4x
the 2025 annual output
The combined senior and junior pipeline compared with the latest graduating class.
Five years of change, viewed three ways.
Switch between annual output, progress toward gender parity and the institutional distribution of graduate supply. The tabs work without JavaScript.
Output reached a new high after a brief pause.
The bars are scaled against the 2025 record. The 2024 decline was followed by a 31.0% surge in 2025.
2021457
2022488
2023583
2024571
2025748
Gender parity is moving within reach.
The female share increased by 9.9 percentage points. Female graduate numbers grew at more than twice the male rate.
2021 female share36.8%
2022 female share37.5%
2023 female share37.0%
2024 female share43.4%
2025 female share46.7%
More than half of confirmed output comes from two universities.
University of Hargeisa and Amoud University account for 52.9% of the five-year total.
University of Hargeisa29.4%
Amoud University23.5%
Admas University15.1%
Burco University11.8%
Civil Service Institute10.9%
Beder International University8.3%
The trajectory is firmly positive, but not perfectly smooth.
Three phases define the survey period: moderate expansion, accelerated growth, then a brief decline followed by the strongest annual increase.
Period
Change
Interpretation
2021 to 2022
+6.8%
Moderate expansion as university operations stabilised.
2022 to 2023
+19.5%
Accelerated growth and possible cohort catch-up.
2023 to 2024
-2.1%
A marginal pause, not a structural reversal.
2024 to 2025
+31.0%
The strongest single-year surge and a new output benchmark.
Five-year trend
13.1% CAGR
Sustained expansion in accounting graduate supply.
29.4%
Largest provider
University of Hargeisa produced 838 graduates over five years.
29.4%
Fastest institutional CAGR
Beder grew from 26 graduates in 2021 to 73 in 2025.
64%
Capital concentration
Approximate share produced by Hargeisa-based institutions.
Female graduate growth is transforming the pipeline.
Women remain a minority across the five-year total, but the direction of change is exceptionally strong and increasingly visible across institutions.
20.1%
female graduate CAGR
More than double the approximately 8.4% male growth rate.
0.875
2025 Gender Parity Index
Up from 0.581 in 2021; a value of 1.0 indicates parity.
Female numbers more than doubled. Annual female graduates increased from 168 to 349, a rise of 107.7% across four years.
Progress is uneven by institution. University of Hargeisa reached 56.7% female graduates in 2025, while the Civil Service Institute reported 24.5%.
The next step is to convert educational parity into equal access to professional qualification, employment and leadership.
The next cohorts are already larger. Faculty investment cannot wait.
Six universities report 958 senior and 850 junior accounting students. The pipeline is broadly stable, but teaching capacity varies sharply.
958
Senior students
The most direct indicator of 2026 graduating potential.
850
Junior students
The approximate 2027 cohort, subject to completion and retention.
26.6:1
Average student ratio
Based on the 68 reported lecturers across six universities.
Institution
Students per lecturer
Capacity signal
University of Hargeisa
43.9:1
Highest reported pressure and a priority for faculty expansion.
Amoud University
35.3:1
High student load relative to the reported faculty.
Admas University
34.4:1
High ratio requiring quality assurance attention.
Civil Service Institute
25.6:1
Above the report's referenced professional-programme benchmark.
Burco University
14.7:1
More manageable within the reported data.
Beder International University
14.6:1
Lowest reported ratio, alongside a rapidly growing junior cohort.
1
Measure annually
Standardised graduate, enrolment and faculty returns.
2
Protect quality
Accreditation standards for faculty, curriculum and competencies.
3
Map demand
Compare graduate supply with employer absorption capacity.
4
Develop faculty
Recruitment, postgraduate study and educator CPD.
Manage growth as a national education and workforce system.
Open each stakeholder group to review the priority actions proposed by the report.
01ICPAS
Establish an Annual Accounting Education Data Return for accredited programmes.
Develop a formal Programme Accreditation Framework covering faculty, ratios, curriculum and graduate competencies.
Launch a Women in Accounting initiative with scholarships, mentoring and professional networks.
Commission a complementary labour-market demand survey and establish an annual Accounting Education Forum.
02Universities
Prioritise lecturer recruitment and professional development to reduce high student loads.
Strengthen administrative data systems, particularly in institutions serving eastern regions.
Track employment, professional-examination uptake and graduate career outcomes.
03Government
Co-invest with ICPAS in national accounting education quality assurance.
Support faculty postgraduate scholarships and institutions outside the capital.
Incentivise the geographic expansion of high-quality accounting education in eastern Somaliland.
04Employers
Report hiring plans and skill needs to support annual supply-demand alignment.
Expand graduate internships and traineeships to build practical experience.
Engage with universities and ICPAS on curriculum relevance and professional pathways.
The first multi-institution baseline of its kind.
ICPAS collected standardised institutional data covering graduation, gender, enrolment and faculty capacity for 2021-2025.
Coverage. Seven of fourteen targeted universities responded. Participating institutions are understood to represent much of national accounting education capacity, but totals remain confirmed rather than exhaustive.
Data quality. Figures were self-reported and not independently verified. Sanaag data are partial, and faculty qualification information was not collected.
Interpretive caution: projections depend on completion and retention; graduate supply does not itself demonstrate labour-market demand, job readiness or employment outcomes.
How to cite this report
Open a style and copy the institutional reference.
Suggested citation
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland (ICPAS). (2026). The accounting talent pipeline in Somaliland: Supply trends and graduate forecasts from Somaliland universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa, Somaliland: ICPAS.
Harvard
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland (ICPAS) (2026) The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa: ICPAS.
Chicago
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland. The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025). Hargeisa: ICPAS, 2026.
BibTeX
@report{icpas2026pipeline, title={The Accounting Talent Pipeline in Somaliland: Supply Trends and Graduate Forecasts from Somaliland Universities (2021-2025)}, author={{Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland}}, institution={ICPAS}, address={Hargeisa, Somaliland}, year={2026}}
Short in-text form: (ICPAS, 2026). Add the permanent webpage URL after online publication if required.
