Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance Vol. 4(1), pp. 9 - 21
DOI: 10.13189/ujaf.2016.040102
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Why Government Institutions in Developing Countries Cannot Account for Public Funds: Empirical Evidence from Cross River State of Nigeria

William Smart Inyang ^*
Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The study investigated why MDAs in African countries cannot account for public funds. A 5-point likert scale questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 62 staff members of State and Local government auditor-general's offices who participated in the study. Five hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study using multiple regression. The study attributed the occurrence of unretired imprests in Cross River State MDAs to the following factors: lack of budgetary provisions, fraudulent delegation of imprest retirement and improper reimbursement of imprests and it was further revealed that off-budget expenditures and non-retirement of imprests by other heads of departments have little or no association with unretired imprests. The study therefore, recommended that overhead cost budgets of the MDAs be constantly revised and appropriate sanctions be levelled against MDA officials who engage in fraudulent delegation of accountability over the imprest funds and improper reimbursement of imprests.

KEYWORDS
Unretired Imprests, Budgetary Provisions, Off-budget Expenditures, Retirement of Imprest, and Reimbursement of Imprest and Overhead Cost Budget

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] William Smart Inyang , "Why Government Institutions in Developing Countries Cannot Account for Public Funds: Empirical Evidence from Cross River State of Nigeria," Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 9 - 21, 2016. DOI: 10.13189/ujaf.2016.040102.

(b). APA Format:
William Smart Inyang (2016). Why Government Institutions in Developing Countries Cannot Account for Public Funds: Empirical Evidence from Cross River State of Nigeria. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, 4(1), 9 - 21. DOI: 10.13189/ujaf.2016.040102.