ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SELECTED SMEs

ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SELECTED SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRISES IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

  • INTRODUCTION
    • BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Oil is a major source of energy in Nigeria and the world in general. Before the advent of oil (Crude oil), agriculture used to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy which plays a vital role in shaping the economic and political destiny of the country (Abolaji1985:2).

In 1960s, agricultural products provided about 80% of the total export earnings and the main cash crops were cocoa, palm oil, groundnut etc. In 1962, agriculture accounted for about N229.8 million or 82% of the nation’s total values of export. Moreso, in 1964 a total of N356.4 million was realized which represented 85% of the country’s total export for that year.

According to Ezeagu (1979:9), the exportation of agricultural products was really thriving during these years. However, by 1976 out of N274.2 million that came from export, agriculture accountedonly for 4% of the nations earnings, even with the take-over of export financing by the Finance Development House, the earnings from the non-oil export (which agriculture products dominated) have not improved by the end of 1991. It only managed to provide 3.8% out of the total revenue. This was as a result of the oil boom and excess dependence on its revenue or earnings.

During this time, the need and consumption pattern shifted and became import – oriented. Thus, the insatiable desire for importation of goods became widespread in the nation with its attendant economic problems.

According to the Statistical Bulletin 1997:60 of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, the 1970s witnessed a drastic change of Nigeria economy from one share of agriculture to Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P) which drastically dropped from about 40% in the early 1970s to about 20% in the 1980s and even 16% in the 1990s. Since the oil sector assumed a wider dimension to account for about 20% of Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P), it also accounted for 81% of government revenue and 96% of export earnings.

Sequel to the oil boom of the 1970s, spectacular change that crept into the Nigerian economy with devastating effect still lingers on till today.

The heavy dependence on oil as the main source of revenue to the economy was highly vulnerable. Agriculture was completely neglected to the extent that Nigeria began to import agricultural products which were previously exported. The oil revenue kept declining and the celebrated “boom” of 1970s became a “doom” for the country.

Following the glut in the international oil market from 1982 to date, the country’s projected revenue has never been attained due to instability in the price of oil, for instance as at September 1985, the total federally collected revenue was N20.287 billion. Arene (1985:25).

In 1987, N29.44 billion was projected as federally collected revenue, out of which N28.53 billion was envisaged to come from the oil sector. This raises the question of how successful or to what extent can this sum be realized when the vagaries of oil market are considered?

To this end, President Olusegun Obasanjo buttressed his optimism in which he stated, “As a nation, we should be sensitive to oil but not panic at the falling process rather we should pursue vigorously the current programme already put in place to diversify revenue sources (Statistical Bulletin 1999:80).

To all intents and purposes, the strengths and weaknesses of Nigeria economy are tremendously being subjected to the dictates of oil revenue. It could easily be seen that Nigeria virtually has no control on the foreign exchange which is in high demand in the country because of excessive importation of foreign goods which is as a result of underdevelopment on the part of our industries, for example, cottage industry.

Furthermore, there is optimism on the part of the federal government inspite of the instability of the oil market, that the selling price of the crude oil would be $14 per barrel with the production base of 1.355 million barrels per day. It is imperative on the part of the government to seek alternative source to supplement oil as the major source of revenue.

Moreover, some major areas have been suggested by the experts as a possible solution that can help salvage the present economic situation. These are agriculture, mining, deregulation and promoting manufacturing industries.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Crude oil discovery has had certain impacts on the Nigeria economy both positively and adversely. On the negative side, this can be considered with respect to the surrounding communities within which the oil wells are exploited. Some of these communities still suffer environmental degradation, which leads to deprivation of means of livelihood and other economic and social factors. Although large proceeds are obtained from the domestic sales and export of petroleum products, its effect on the growth of the Nigerian economy as regards returns and productivity is still questionable. Thus the study focuses on the impact of overdependence on oil revenue to Nigeria economy.

 

  • OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The specific objectives of the study include the following:

  1. To assess the impact of overdependence on oil revenue to Nigeria economy.
  2. To determine the factors that could minimize Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue.
  3. To assess the level of importation of petroleum products in Nigeria.
  4. To evaluate the problems encountered by the Nigerian oil sector.

 

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions postulated for this study include the following:

  1. What is the impact of overdependence on oil revenue to Nigeria economy.
  2. What are the factors that could minimize Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue.
  3. What is the level of importation of petroleum products in Nigeria.
  4. What are the problems encountered by the Nigerian oil sector.

 

 

 

1.5       RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the purpose of this study, the following research hypotheses will be tested.

 

  1. Ho: Overdependence on oil revenue has more negative impact than positive impact on Nigeria’s economic development.

      H1:   Overdependence on oil revenue has more positive impact than negative impact on Nigeria’s economic development.

  1. Ho: Agriculture, Tourism, Taxation and Solid minerals are not factors that could minimize Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue.

      H1:   Agriculture, Tourism, Taxation and Solid minerals are the factors that could minimize Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue.

  1. Ho: The level of importation of petroleum products in Nigeria is high.

      H1: The level of importation of petroleum products in Nigeria is low.

  1. Ho: Poor funding of investments, Communal disturbances, Smuggling and diversion of petroleum products and Products adulteration are not problems encountered by the Nigerian oil sector

      H1: Poor funding of investments, Communal disturbances, Smuggling and diversion of petroleum products and Products adulteration are the problems encountered by the Nigerian oil sector.

 

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is significant because it assesses the impact of Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue. Also, the study will help direct attention of the federal government and the oil sector on the need for diversification into other sources of revenue like agriculture, for economic growth.

It will also serve as a reference for future researchers in the same field.

 

 

1.7   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is on assessing the impact of overdependence on oil revenue to Nigeria economy. The study focuses on the impact of overdependence on oil revenue to Nigeria economy, factors that could minimize Nigeria’s overdependence on oil revenue, the level of importation of petroleum products in Nigeria and problems encountered by the Nigerian oil sector.

However, the study will be carried out in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja.

 

  • LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The main constraints of the study include the following:

  1. Time

Due to the limited time given for the study, the researcher could not get all the required information needed for the study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title of Research

Approval Page

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstract

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THE IMPACT OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTING SERVICES ON FRAUD DETECTION AND PREVENTION AMONG COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE: INRODUCTION

            Background to the Study

Considerable scandals that have been experienced in recent years in commercial banks in Nigeria have reduced the confidence to financial and non financial statements leading to improved regulations governing both the banking sector and the accounting practices as well. Due to this, forensic accountancy as a profession with its services as litigation support, consultancy expert testimony and fraud auditing (investigation accountancy) filled a large gap in prevention of such frauds. History has shown that despite the presence of Sarbanese-oxley legislation of 2002 in the United States and the publishing  of Higgs Report and Smith report in the UK in 2003 in response to the collapse of Enron and other big companies in US, employees have continued to manipulate even the best internal controls available for their own personal gain.

These scandals have financially devastated employees and investors and severely harmed the reputation of auditors, analysts and corporate managers. It is in realization of this that various initiatives have been put into place to enhance and enforce the applicability of forensic accounting services by use of the right people, tools, techniques and insight to prevent and detect fraudulent activities and to ensure that the applicability of such services are effective. Modern Information technology has even increased the pace of electronically manipulated frauds in the complex business environment. According to Fraud Survey of KPMG (2008), the total value of fraud reported was $301.1 million with an average value for each organization of $1.5million in Australia and New Zealand of 420 organizations surveyed which represented 20% of the 2018 surveys distributed.

In May 2011 in a response to spiraling fraud cases, the CBK demanded an audit of automated payment processing systems operated by commercial banks after their investigations showed the rising cases of fraud were in fact being initiated by bank employees at the point of entry of information into their internal payment systems.

Due to this, this study focused on the impact of forensic accounting services on fraudulent practices in the commercial banks in Nigeria. Theoretical prediction indicated that, the application of Forensic Accounting Services helps to prevent fraud occurrence in the commercial banks. According to Gollwitzer (1990), the mindset of a fraud specialist will lead them to search for pertinent information pertaining to frauds. When people are much aware that their fraudulent activities were to be disclosed by the application of forensic accounting services, they feared to commit fraud in the banking industry.

                  Overview of Fraud

Fraud itself comprises of large varieties and includes bribery, political corruption, consumer fraud, business employee fraud, network harking, bankruptcy divorce fraud, identity theft or even the theft of confidential information. It is a deceptive trick, scam, game, artifice, cabal which is committed to cheat ,mislead someone and contributing something useless to something in order to gain advantage (Institute of Turkish History, 1998). KPMG’s fraud survey (2003) reveals that more companies are recently experiencing incidences of frauds than the previous years. According to Pickett (2007), many top managers view fraud as a taboo and rather boring subject, preferring not talk about it at all. This is because investigating fraud means exposing weak controls and even leads to reputational damage of the organization and reanalysis of accounting information. Taking measure to combat fraud and launching new anti fraud initiatives in

response to the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002 (KPMG, 2003) has succeeded to combat some financial crimes.

Mislead of financial statements users and increase of commercial disputes, accounting frauds and cases at courts, with the increases such as creative accounting and vague accounting have supported the need of this profession. As the bank strives to expand the business processes, the management is faced with the difficulty of supervising many people at a time making it impossible for managers to follow track of their employees. This makes it easy for employees to commit fraud. Employees naturally become well educated on the inner workings of a company and know where the gaps and weaknesses are (Coenen, 2008). The most recent ACFE survey indicated that 61% fraud schemes were perpetrated by men, while 39% were committed by women. The study notes, however, that fraud committed by men is more costly (Coenen, 2008).

Banking Fraud Investigation Department (BFID) also identified that forensic auditing was compromised within the banks as the sections often fall under either internal audit or security departments, which threatens their independence and integrity. Their recommendation is to set up independent forensic units within the banks, as well as ensuring a separation of duties preventing a single person from originating and completing an assignment of entry. They also emphasized the need for dual control of sensitive areas like strong rooms and locks to security documents and accounts. Deloitte reported that bank fraud tripled to an estimated Kshs 3 billion in 2010, approximately four percent of the total sector profitability over the same period.

PwC Nigeria identified the following fraud types in their 2011 Financial Focus: 1) Electronic; manipulation of electronic files, circumvention of information technology controls by those with superior administrative rights or by management, unauthorized penetration mechanisms and 2) Non-electronic fraud; cash theft (including planned robberies), identity fraud especially as regards applications for loans, mortgages and  other financial accommodation facilities, card skimming, phishing and cheque fraud.

                  Nature of Forensic Accounting Services

Chilvers (2000) defines “forensic accounting” as the use of investigative techniques, integrated with accounting and business skills, to develop information and opinions for evidence in court and for use by expert witnesses. Dhar and Sarkar (2010) defined Forensic Accounting as the application of accounting concepts and techniques to legal problems. It demands reporting, where accountability of the fraud is established and the report is considered as evidence in the court of law or in administrative proceedings. The complex nature of forensic accounting is part of appeal to many accountants to enter the field (Kranacher et al.2008). Due to the common nature of the various definitions reside in the areas of litigation services, accounting investigation and preparing court ready evidence all of which are of great importance to the banking industry. Forensic accounting may be one of the most effective and efficient ways to reduce and prevent fraudulent activities as it is concerned with the evidentiary nature of accounting data, and as a practical field concerned with accounting fraud and forensic auditing; compliance, due diligence and risk assessment; detection of financial misrepresentation and financial statement fraud (Skousen and Wright, 2008) .

The forensic accountants draw conclusions, calculate values and identify irregular patterns or suspicious transactions by critically analyzing the financial data. It provides  an accounting analysis to the court for dispute resolution in certain cases and it also provides the courts with explanation the fraud that has been committed (Adrian, 2009). This is the reason why forensic accounting may play a vital role in detecting and reducing accounting frauds in the banking sector and as he says Jeyarathmm (2008), quality influences greater efficiency, higher productivity and high quality goods and services. It means that less time is actually spent reworking and correcting mistakes that were committed earlier due to carelessness or negligence.

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