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This paper assessed accuracy level in accounting for government funds in Nigeria's federal treasury and their faithful presentation in government financial reporting. It aimed to determine whether the reported annual balances in Nigeria's financial reporting were reliable or otherwise. Data used in analysis were obtained from secondary sources from federal treasury.

Ex-post “facto” analysis method was adopted in the study involving the use of statistical techniques of absolute or aggregate mean percentage error derived from differences between recomputed and published fund balances and was employed. This was augmented with interactive review meetings of the initial case research report with the management of Nigeria's audit agency.

Results distilled from the consolidated revenue fund (CRF), development fund and public debt show that recomputed values were greater than the fund balances in the gazetted financial statements. Results for contingency fund (CTF), federation account fund (FAF), special trust fund (STF) and sundry deposit fund yield equal figures and accurate. The paper concludes that there were serial understatements of the core public fund balances in the financial statements over the years. This trend of reporting incorrect in three core public funds in financial statements rendered Nigeria's financial position unreliable in the affected years for decisions. It also facilitated frauds, mismanagement of funds and corrupt practices.

The scope of the research is restricted to assessment of degree of accuracy in fund accounting, faithful representation of the respective fund balance in the liabilities side of FGN balance sheet and the reliability of the financial position. But, it did not consider or cover the implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in federal treasury since FGN had not issued any full IPSAS–oriented financial statements as on 2015.

Identification of deficiencies in fund account balances, structural defects in fund accounting and acts of understatement of carrying balances in CRF and capital development fund (CDF) implies that the aggregate core fund liabilities reported in financial statement of government entities without corresponding assets do not actually reflect a true and fair financial position in some countries. It reveals remarkable degree of financial information asymmetry in government financial reporting. Illusionary fund accounting has direct linkage to poor fiscal governance in many sovereign with associated sub-optimal delivery of public goods and service level distress syndrome in many economies; lead to poverty, unemployment, crisis and macroeconomic disturbances.

The study contributes to the development of fund accounting system; strengthening government financial reporting architecture and practices. It provides framework for tracking financial information asymmetry in government financial reporting and mismanagement of public funds. It provides platform to effect necessary adjustment (correction) during the “first time 3-year adoption” adjustment window in Nigeria. Flowing from the findings, it advocates for institutionalization of government fund accounting standards and provides evidence for migration to accrual accounting system in countries that have not already implemented it. Evaluation system developed herein will improve fund management in federal treasury and contribute to efficient public financial management, good governance and enhance development of public accounting practice.

This exploratory empirical research is the one to ever evaluate accuracy level of fund accounting in sovereign entities and faithful representation in government's financial position prior to implementation of accrual accounting and financial reporting. The study established substantial level of illusionary accounting for public funds and information asymmetry in published government's financial reporting. It is necessary to rectify these discrepancies in fund accounting and financial reporting prior to and or during the first three years of the IPSAS transition implementation programme. These research deliverables provide adopters with relevant data for adjustment accounting during the transition period in strengthening public financial reporting in order to realize the benefit of full IPSAS accrual accounting.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) on Nigeria’s financial reporting quality.

The study employed a survey research design to determine the effects of the implementation of the IPSAS on Nigeria’s financial reporting quality. Partial Least Square 3(SmartPLS 3) technique of analysis was applied to achieve the research objective.

The study found that accountability positively and significantly affects the quality of financial reporting in Nigeria. Specifically, IPSAS has improved the level of accountability, which in turn improved Nigeria’s financial reporting quality.

The study only explored two explanatory variables whereas other variables such as transparency, corruption minimization, comparability and faithful representation were not considered in this study. It is, therefore, recommended that further studies could expand the scope to cover some other variables not included in this paper.

IPSAS-Accrual has engendered the Nigerian Government to launch the Asset Tracking and Management Project (ATMProject) in order to easily track its assets for the purpose of accountability. Thus, accountability was discovered in this study to be the most essential factor to enhance the quality of financial reporting using accrual-based IPSAS in Nigeria.

Accountability will impact positively on the lives of Nigerians in relation to the application of public funds to impact on the lives of the masses.

The statistical significance of accountability found in this study, using partial least square technique of data analysis, will further enhance financial integrity in the country.

This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities for the deployment of whistleblowing as an accountability mechanism to curb corruption and fraud in a developing country. Nigeria is the institutional setting for the study.

Adopting an institutional theory perspective and a survey protocol of urban residents in the country, the study presents evidence on the whistleblowing program introduced in 2016. Nigeria’s whistleblowing initiative targets all types of corruption, including corporate fraud.

This study finds that, even in the context of a developing country, whistleblowing is supported as an accountability mechanism, but the intervention lacks awareness, presents a high risk to whistleblowers and regulators, including the risk of physical elimination, and is fraught with institutional and operational challenges. In effect, awareness of whistleblowing laws, operational challenges and an institutional environment conducive to venality undermine the efficacy of whistleblowing in Nigeria.

The study presents a model of challenges and opportunities for whistleblowing in a developing democracy. The authors argue that the existence of a weak and complex institutional environment and the failure of program institutionalization explain those challenges and opportunities. The authors also argue that a culturally anchored and institutionalized whistleblowing program encourages positive civic behavior by incentivizing citizens to act as custodians of their resources, and it gives voice to the voiceless who have endured decades of severe hardship and loss of dignity due to corruption.

Public procurement provides a fertile ground for corruption in the Nigerian public sector. Reforms to create an effective public procurement system, which have been almost exclusively the governmentʼs affair, seem to be yielding insignificant results. Effective reforms to control corruption in public procurement systems must be sustainably participative and inclusive of all essential stakeholders in the society. Most importantly, the preconditions for achieving a sound public procurement system are integrity and commitment to good governance practices through the provision of welldesigned legislation and supporting regulations and review processes.

This paper aims to address the gap within the public accountability literature with regard to emerging economies and add to knowledge about how accountability is understood and how it plays out in practice in the context of public sector reform. While prior literature has focussed on the resource dependence of emerging nations, this paper examines the practice of public accountability in a non-resource-dependent emerging economy.

In a non-resource-dependent nation, we used a framework based on institutional theory but also draw upon the notion that international financial institutions act in an imperialist way to maintain their relationship with the country. The paper develops a concept of subtle coercion to explain the findings in relation to public accountability reform. The paper examines three reforms introduced and partially implemented in Nigeria: a local initiative that fits well with local understandings of what public accountability is and two imported initiatives that rely upon Western notions of accountability. The research method is a qualitative case study.

The paper reveals the ways in which accountability reform is complex and subtle. Local understanding of what accountability is led to perceptions that a locally designed reform had enjoyed some success, even though by its own admission Nigeria’s public sector still has a long distance to travel in terms of international notions of public accountability.

The research is based in a single country which allows for in-depth study but limits the ability to generalise findings.

This case shows that specific and dynamic features of the political and economic environment can influence the nature of public accountability reform in a way which is not predictable or linear.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature and dimension of non-compliance (defiance) with lease agreement obligations in private rental housing market between managers (agents/private rental housing providers or landlords) and end-users (tenants – rental housing consumers), with a view to identifying challenges in rental housing lease administration in Nigeria emerging rental market.

The quantitative data collected from practicing estate surveyor and valuers (statutorily registered agents), who manage private rental housing in their portfolios on behalf of owners and tenants, who occupy rental housing within Lagos state (the largest property market in Nigeria and West Africa). Using a theoretical model in the context of five lease agreement obligations, data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (one sample t-test, independent t-test and correlation).

While economic circumstances (economic factors) are considered the major vulnerable factor that cause acts of non-compliance, defiance against “covenant not- to- sublet (subletting covenant (SC))” and “prompt rental payment covenant” are the two most non-compliance attitudes (precipitation events) observed from both actors. There is correlation among all vulnerability elements and precipitating events. While a significant relationship was only observed between “SC” and all vulnerability elements on the part of agents, there is significant relationship among all the vulnerability elements and precipitating events on the part of tenants. Also, while tenants attached higher significance to all the vulnerability factors than managers, both actors attached different level of priority to precipitating events. Lastly, equitable remedies and peaceful entry are the two most adopted intervention tools.

This paper is limited to seeking both the professional opinion of licensed/registered agents and the rental housing consumers-tenants.

The research points to an increasing need for the stakeholders – Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (a Government parastatal) and the Nigerian Institutions of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (the constituted professional body), to establish and reform the code of practice in this direction with due consideration to the factors identified in this study. Effort also should be upgraded in the intervention techniques adopted in order to improve on emerging rental market.

The paper explores an important aspect of lease administration in private rental housing market. It also provides platform on which the acts of defiance can be wiped out in the emerging rental market.