PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS AND CORRUPTION IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC SERVICE
Abstract
This study attempts to examine the influence of Professional
Accountants on Corruption in Nigeria Public Service on one hand and
the influence of government-workplace on professional Accountant on
the other. Corruption, as epitomised by fraudulent financial practices
remains a global malaise as well as the bane of Nigeria’s socio
economic transformation. Corruption poses serious challenges to the
ethical disposition of professional accountants in public service
employments as well as the professional accounting bodies they belong.
This exploratory study is based on the examination of the perception of
a 30 professional accountants from convenient-sampled federal, state
and local government establishments in Edo-State, Nigeria on their
perceived relationship between their professional ethical dispositions
and their public service-workplace, on one hand, and their perceived
impact on corruption in their public service workplace on the other.
The study reveals that despite the professional status of Public Service
Accountants, their ethical and professional conducts are nevertheless
influenced by the very nature of their work-place and shows no
evidence of the professional Accountants’ impact against corruption.
Recommendations to address the issues raised by the findings include:
the need for a detailed review of existing Civil Service laws and
Financial Regulations that impede the autonomy of the professional
Public Service Accountant, the establishment of public whistle blowing
structures and Ethics Departments in the public-service-work-place
and the need to put in place pro-active policies by professional
accounting bodies that provides temporary financial and legal
assistance to any of their members that may be victimised on ethical
grounds.
Keywords
Public Service Accountants; Government Accountants; Professional ethical Standards; Public Service work-place; Public Service Employment
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How to Cite
Ehijeagbon, A. A. (2014). PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS AND CORRUPTION IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC SERVICE. Nigerian Journal of Accounting Research, 10(2), 1-18.
A. A. Ehijeagbon, "PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS AND CORRUPTION IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC SERVICE," Nigerian Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1-18, December 2014.
