Professionals’ Perception of Audit Practices in Public Sector: A Case Study of Osun and Ogun States of South-Western Nigeria
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Date
2018-09
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Publisher
European Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance Research
Abstract
The study examined perception of accounting professionals regarding public
sector audit practices. Specifically, it aims at identifying generally accepted audit principles
and also determine the pattern of government audit practices in Osun and Ogun states of
Nigeria. Despite the introduction of 1999 Constitution as amended in Nigeria and various
pronouncements on audit practice in the Nigerian Public Sector by regulatory bodies, the issue
of corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement in Nigeria public sector has been on the
increase. This study assessed the level of state government compliance and adherence to the
Generally Accepted Auditing Practice (GAAP) of Osun and Ogun states in South Western part
of Nigeria and also identified the factors that influence compliance of state audit practice to
standards in the selected states. Data for the study was sourced through administration of 150
pretested structured questionnaire purposively administered to professional Accountants in the
states audit service of Osun and Ogun state of Nigeria. Both descriptive and inferential
statistics such as tables, graph, percentages, ANOVA and regression analysis were used to
assess the level of compliance and also identify factors that influence such. The study revealed
that the level of practice to audit standards compliance by Osun and Ogun states public is
significantly positive while political influence was identified as one of the major factors among
others that influence level of audit practice with standards in the selected states. The study
concluded that state audit practice complied with standards but were highly influenced by
politics with far reaching implications on the quality of financial reporting of the state public
sectors. Therefore, the study recommend that state government public sector should embrace
and encourage best audit practice compliance that will help in reducing the level of corruption
and embezzlement in Nigeria public sectors
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Keywords
Auditing principles, Influence, Audit practitioners, Government audit