Description
Abstract
This research is on Forensic accounting, a tool for fraud detection and prevention in the public sector. The contribution/importance of professional forensic accountants cannot be over-emphasized, whether to the public sector or to the private sector. The purpose of this study is to examine forensic accounting as a tool for fraud detection and prevention in public sector organizations with particular reference to Ebonyi State. Both primary and secondary sources of data were appropriately used. 46 questionnaires were administered to staff of five (5) selected ministries in Ebonyi State of Nigeria, along with interviews conducted with those ministries out of which 42 were filled and returned. Tables and simple percentages were used to analyze the data. The statistical tool used to test the hypothesis was chi-square (x2). Among the findings was that the use of forensic accounting does significantly reduces the occurrence of fraud cases in the public sector and that there is a significant difference between professional forensic accountants and traditional external auditors and therefore the use of forensic accountants can help better in detecting and preventing fraud cases in the public sector. The research, therefore, recommended that forensic accountants be replaced with the external auditors in Ebonyi state, proper training and retraining on forensic accounting should be provided to staff of Ebonyi state and proper adherence to accounting and auditing standards should be followed. Keywords: forensic, auditing, public sector, accounting, accountant .
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.