ADOPTION OF INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING STANDARDS IN FINANCIAL REPORTING BY ACCOUNT OFFICERS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

This study assessed the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in financial reporting by account officers in tertiary institutions in South-East, Nigeria. Two purposes and corresponding research questions guided the study and four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Related literature pertinent to the study was reviewed. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of 849 account officers working in tertiary institutions. A sample of 272 account officers was used for the study. A structured questionnaire developed by the researchers was used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha Method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The reliability index obtained was r = 0.82. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and ANOVA. Mean was used to analyze data related to the research questions and standard deviation was used to explain how the responses of the respondents varied. ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significant. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used to analyze the data. The results showed that account officers adopted International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) in presenting separately current and non-current assets and liabilities in its financial statement position, presents liability in order of maturity and stating balances carried over from one accounting period to the next accounting period in tertiary institutions in South East. Majority of the account officers did not adopt IPSAS in the presentation of current assets in order of liquidity, disclosure of amount expected to be recovered for each asset and liability, receivables and payables from exchange transactions in reporting assets and liabilities in tertiary institutions in South-East, Nigeria. The results also showed that there was no significant difference in their adoption of IPSASs in reporting assets and liabilities and cash flow management in tertiary institutions in South-East based on type of institution and years of experience. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended, among others, that there should be manpower development by various tertiary institutions to train highly qualified and professional accountants as well as build and develop accounting information system together with information technology. This will help in reporting all statutory income and other internally generated revenue reported for the accounting period. Article visualizations: