Forensic Accounting and Fraud Detection and Prevention in the Nigerian Public Sector

This paper is aimed at empirically evaluating the relationship between forensic accounting and fraud detection and prevention in the Nigerian ministries. The study used a survey design using questionnaire to obtain data from the primary source. Sample size of one fifty (50) respondents consisting of auditors and accountants in ten (10) ministries chosen from FCT Abuja in Nigeria. Analysis of variance, (ANOVA) was adopted to test the hypotheses at 5% significant level. Findings of the study revealed that the use of forensic accounting in the Nigerian ministries is useful in discovering fraud; furthermore, significant correlation between the forensic accounting and the legal action in Nigerian courts. Similarly, use of forensic accounting in the ministries is also valuable in averting fraud. The study therefore, recommends that the ministries should install an uninterrupted enhancement in the internal control system and introduce erudite and competent scrutiny and monitoring, effective accounting system capable of encouraging the officers to carry out their responsibilities with integrity. Forensic accountant should be made to undergo appropriate training on forensic accounting skills. Furthermore, officers in the ministries should adopt truthfulness, accountability, justice, objectivity, as an essential ethical responsibility to diminish the rate of fraudulent practices in Nigeria.