Accounting

The auditor's report is the end-product of an audit; its importance to the business community cannot be overemphasized. It is the statutory confirmation that the accounts prepared by Management may be relied upon as true and fair. Public confidence in or lack thereof in auditor's report is very critical to the very relevance of the audit practice. The purpose of this study is to examine how public confidence in auditor's report may be enhanced with particular reference to audit report of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. Primary source of data was appropriately used. 132 questionnaires were administered to Financial Advisers of 21 selected Stock Brokers and Accounting Firms operating at the floor of Nigeria Stock Exchange, Abuja, out of which 124 were filled and returned. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages was used to analyse the responses from the respondents, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test hypotheses one and two while hypothesis three was examined using paired sampled t-test. The result of the study indicates that there is an inverse relationship between statutory audit and public confidence in audit report. It was found that forensic audits practice has a significant relationship with public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. The third hypothesis of the study shows that there is a significant difference between statutory audit practice and forensic audit practice in enhancing public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. It was concluded that public confidence in statutory audit report is on the decline following sudden collapse of firms that had unqualified audit report. It was recommended among others that the government should enact an act establishing forensic and investigative auditors in Nigeria separate from the existing accounting professional bodies since there is no public confidence on the audit report prepared by the existing accounting professional bodies again. By so doing, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria will make forensic audit report mandatory for all organisations and in particular for the listed insurance firms in Nigeria, which will in turn restore the public confidence in audit report.

The auditor's report is the end-product of an audit; its importance to the business community cannot be overemphasized. It is the statutory confirmation that the accounts prepared by Management may be relied upon as true and fair. Public confidence in or lack thereof in auditor's report is very critical to the very relevance of the audit practice. The purpose of this study is to examine how public confidence in auditor's report may be enhanced with particular reference to audit report of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. Primary source of data was appropriately used. 132 questionnaires were administered to Financial Advisers of 21 selected Stock Brokers and Accounting Firms operating at the floor of Nigeria Stock Exchange, Abuja, out of which 124 were filled and returned. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages was used to analyse the responses from the respondents, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test hypotheses one and two while hypothesis three was examined using paired sampled t-test. The result of the study indicates that there is an inverse relationship between statutory audit and public confidence in audit report. It was found that forensic audits practice has a significant relationship with public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. The third hypothesis of the study shows that there is a significant difference between statutory audit practice and forensic audit practice in enhancing public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. It was concluded that public confidence in statutory audit report is on the decline following sudden collapse of firms that had unqualified audit report. It was recommended among others that the government should enact an act establishing forensic and investigative auditors in Nigeria separate from the existing accounting professional bodies since there is no public confidence on the audit report prepared by the existing accounting professional bodies again. By so doing, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria will make forensic audit report mandatory for all organisations and in particular for the listed insurance firms in Nigeria, which will in turn restore the public confidence in audit report.

The auditor's report is the end-product of an audit; its importance to the business community cannot be overemphasized. It is the statutory confirmation that the accounts prepared by Management may be relied upon as true and fair. Public confidence in or lack thereof in auditor's report is very critical to the very relevance of the audit practice. The purpose of this study is to examine how public confidence in auditor's report may be enhanced with particular reference to audit report of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. Primary source of data was appropriately used. 132 questionnaires were administered to Financial Advisers of 21 selected Stock Brokers and Accounting Firms operating at the floor of Nigeria Stock Exchange, Abuja, out of which 124 were filled and returned. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages was used to analyse the responses from the respondents, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test hypotheses one and two while hypothesis three was examined using paired sampled t-test. The result of the study indicates that there is an inverse relationship between statutory audit and public confidence in audit report. It was found that forensic audits practice has a significant relationship with public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. The third hypothesis of the study shows that there is a significant difference between statutory audit practice and forensic audit practice in enhancing public confidence in audit report of listed insurance firms in Nigeria. It was concluded that public confidence in statutory audit report is on the decline following sudden collapse of firms that had unqualified audit report. It was recommended among others that the government should enact an act establishing forensic and investigative auditors in Nigeria separate from the existing accounting professional bodies since there is no public confidence on the audit report prepared by the existing accounting professional bodies again. By so doing, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria will make forensic audit report mandatory for all organisations and in particular for the listed insurance firms in Nigeria, which will in turn restore the public confidence in audit report.

La presente investigacion es una indagacion con propositos educativos, sobre el uso de nuevas tecnologias de informacion y comunicacion en la Escuela “Juan de Velasco” de Riobamba, que permitio analizar y observar los efectos de utilizar las TIC’s y su incidencia en el rendimiento academico de estudiantes del septimo ano. Se consideraron dos escenarios tomados de la poblacion: el primero utiliza el metodo tradicional; el segundo un estudio y seleccion de plataformas virtuales para la aplicacion de la modalidad blended-learning, soporte tecnologico, para demostrar su incidencia positiva en el rendimiento academico de la asignatura de matematica. Para la implementacion tecnologica se realizo un diagnostico, partiendo de las fortalezas y debilidades de los actores del proceso educativo sobre el uso de las TIC’s se escogio el Ambiente Educativo Virtual Moodle version 1.9.16, aplicando la Metodologia PACIE. Basados en el constructivismo con tecnicas e instrumentos se recolecto informacio...

The recent well publicized massive corporate frauds including that of Worldcom and Enron have questioned the role of auditors in fraud detection. It has been estimated that six percent of US companies revenues in 2002 were lost through frauds committed by employees (Holtfreter 2004) and of the 491 Australian and New Zealand companies who responded to the KPMG survey in 2004, close to half had experienced fraud, costing them a total of $457 million (KPMG 2004). Clearly this is a significant problem for many organizations and is the focus of this study. The main objective of this study is to determine the challenges and benefits of statutory audit and fraud detection in government owned establishments. This will specifically involve distinguishing between statutory audit and fraud detection, determining the need for statutory audit and the role of external auditors and internal audit mechanisms in fraud detection. In carrying out this research, data were collected from primary and secondary sources through distribution of structured questionnaires to workers in Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ABUBEB), the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) all in Umuahia, and also from published text books and journals. Both tables and percentages were used in analyzing the results of the respondent. Hypothesis formulated were tested using chi-square (X2) statistics. The result of the findings showed that establishments that undergo statutory audit are more likely to detect and report fraud than establishments that do not undergo statutory audit. Again, establishments that have internal control mechanisms are more likely to detect and report fraud than those that do not have internal controls. Presently, neither the Directors nor the Auditors accept responsibility when fraud occurs. This is because the primary objective of an audit is not to detect fraud but to form and express an opinion on the truth and fairness of the financial statements. The researchers however think that someone must be held responsible for fraud detection and prevention and therefore suggest that the role of the external auditors be reviewed to include detection and prevention of fraud , while appropriate legislation and accounting/auditing Standards are put in place to support this new responsibility. In view of the obvious advantages of audit exercises, government should ensure that all government establishments undergo proper and regular statutory audits.

Cost of capital remains the main issue to investors, especially in the manufacturing sector as it plays a significant role in business initiation. This paper examined manufacturing and human capital reporting as predictors of cost of capital among the listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. The population of this study was derived from 75 listed firms in the Nigerian Exchange Group (2023) from where the sample of 22 listed manufacturing firms was selected using purposive sampling technique. Radom Effect method of Panel Regression was adopted for data analysis. Findings revealed that manufacturing capital reporting has greater effect on cost of equity capital than human capital reporting, financial reports by manufacturing films in Nigeria have not been well integrated and this has impacted negatively on their costs of debt and costs of retained earnings. The paper recommended that the Federal Government should make the business environment more conducive to ensure an enhanced ease of doing business especially for manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Also, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) should collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies to ensure that adequate financial credit is made available to manufacturing sector investors in Nigeria at low rates of interest.

The paper seeks to describe the operations of the regulatory framework for the prevention of financial
statement misstatement/manipulation in Nigeria, which is provided by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) and to assess the extent of its effectiveness in preventing
misstatement/manipulation of financial statements in financial reporting in Nigeria. The Descriptive
method was employed for the study; data were collected through interviews and documentary
evidence. Using descriptive statistics consisting of frequencies, a measure of central tendency, visual
representations made up of the bar chart, pie chart, and time series plot, the data were analyzed. The
findings of the study indicated that the SEC is effective to the extent of detecting a mean of 25 cases of
financial statements misstatement/manipulation annually for the study period 2003 to 2010 and thus
prevented or deterred them. The regulatory agency has however been reluctant in applying the full
force of the law in the enforcement of accounting rules.
Keywords: Regulatory framework, Accounting rules, Misstatement, Manipulation, Financial Statements,
Enforcement.

This paper has assessed the fixed assets maintenance and replacement decisions in a government owned Transport Company, with respect to the usage of the assets using Benue Links Limited, a transport company owned by the Benue state Government in Nigeria as a case study. The hypothesis formulated and tested was: Assets maintenance and replacement decisions of a government owned Transport Company do not significantly result in efficient utilization of assets. Data collection was through personal interviews which were conducted with some managerial staff of Benue Links Nig Ltd, the study also relied on secondary data collected from the company in terms of the maintenance schedules of their vehicles. The Chi-square Test was employed to test the hypothesis at 5% level of significance. The study found out that the existing assets management and replacement decisions of the government owned transport company -Benue Links Nig Ltd do not significantly result in efficient utilization of assets. In order to improve the assets maintenance and replacement decisions of the company the following recommendations were made: Developing a policy to require a complete inventory and periodic measurement of the physical condition of all existing assets in the establishment; Establishing conditional/functional performance standards to be maintained for each type of government-owned assets; Evaluating existing assets to determine if they still provide the most appropriate method to deliver services; Various measures should be put in place by the company to monitor and evaluate the performances of asset managers with respect to asset management; Educating assets custodians on the need to ensure proper maintenance and replacement of the assets in their custody.
Key Words: Assets Maintenance, Asset Replacement, Asset Maintenance and Replacement Decisions, Assets Management Policy
1.

There is a paradigm shift in the approach adopted as a strategy towards poverty reduction by International Financial Institutions; these organizations now tilt towards self-sustenance and capacity building. In the pursuit of this paradigm shift in poverty reduction, small and micro enterprises have become handy instruments that can be fruitfully adopted in the strategy to economically empower and reduce poverty among the rural communities in Nigeria. Small and micro enterprises play a key role in augmenting family welfare; this productive role arises from their income generation activity, they have played key roles in the socio economic development of the rural communities in the following respects: Employment generation, Provision of services, Distribution of goods, Production of primary products. They are however hampered by the following constraints: Poor managerial skills; Absence of proper accounting records; Difficulties arising because of government policies; Absence of infrastructural facilities, Lack of capital and inadequate credit facilities. They can be supported by local councils to overcome these constraints through the following measures: Creation of an enabling environment, Training of operators and managers; acquiring the services of accountants and financial experts; Review of government policies; Improvement of infrastructural facilities and the provision of adequate credit facilities so that they can be properly utilized for poverty reduction and economic empowerment in Nigerian rural communities.
Keywords: Small and Micro Enterprises, Poverty, Poverty Reduction Strategy, Economic Empowerment; Rural Communities

This paper has examined budget tracking as one of the possible strategies for fighting corruption in Nigeria to promote resource management for sustainable development and it is based on a conceptual analysis that is largely dependent on a literature review. Budget tracking, also referred to as resource flow tracking is very important in the management of public funds because the approved financial resources meant for specified programmes normally pass through many stages of government bureaucracy before getting to the ultimate service facilities that are set up to exercise spending power. Budget tracking is undertaken in tandem with the two major components of budgets; accordingly, there is revenue tracking and expenditure tracking. Revenue tracking begins immediately with budget implementation; it seeks to develop government capacity to translate budget intensions into reality. It is concerned with ensuring that all budgeted revenues are diligently collected and fully remitted into government coffers. In Nigeria the correct practice is that all revenues collected on behalf of government are must be first paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (or Treasury) before obtaining allocations for the recurrent and capital spending. Many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government in Nigeria do not remit revenues collected by them to the treasury, yet their recurrent and capital spending needs are fully appropriated. Budget tracking can be employed as one of the strategies for sustaining the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, before this strategy can be gainfully employed in the fight against corruption, the legislature must rise and surmount the challenges that confront and hinder them from performing their constitutional duty of budget tracking. Key words: Budget tracking, Accountability, Revenue tracking, Expenditure tracking, Legislature.

This paper has investigated the relationship between earnings and changes in earnings to stock returns in the Nigerian stock market from 2007 to 2011. An ex-post facto research design was adopted, and the population of the study was made up of all the 198 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 2011, using Purposive sampling 40 companies were selected. The data was collected from financial statements of the companies and from the NSE. Regression analysis was used as a tool of analysis, while other tests namely Correlation Analysis, Durbin-Watson Statistics (DW) and Variance Inflationary Factor (VIF) were conducted to validate the result of the study. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between accounting information and stock prices in the NSE. The conclusion drawn is that there is a significant relationship between earnings and stock returns in the Nigerian stock market, hence earnings are related to both price and return in the Nigerian stock market, while change in earnings is not significantly related to stock return. It is recommended that since stock returns are related to earnings, companies listed on the Nigerian stock market should work towards increasing their earnings at the end of every financial year and current and potential investors should critically examine the earnings figure of companies while making investment decisions in Nigeria.
Keywords: Accounting information, Stock returns, Stock Prices, Earnings, Bookvalues, Nigerian Stock market

This paper examines the effect of global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis on public sector accounting. The global financial crisis and sovereign debt crisis were contextually analysed bringing out clearly its effect on public sector accounting which include accounting issues related to public sector intervention, accounting for recapitalization of investment, accounting for fiscal support, accounting for financial guarantees. The paper found out that, the unresolved fiscal and debt problems in some European countries and elsewhere could threaten the global economy. The implication of this is that, there is need for transparent financial reporting by government and improvement in the management of public sector resources. That, third world countries should avoid sub optimal debts structure.
Key words:Financial Crisis, Sovereign Debt, Public sector Accounting, government interventions, Accounting Standards