INVESTIGATIVE ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL CRIMES IN NIGERIA PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract

This study examined investigative accounting and financial crimes in Nigeria public sector.                          A conceptual framework research model was developed to envelope the three specific objectives, research questions, and hypotheses formulated. Simple random sampling technique was adopted and six (6) departments to obtain 350 respondents. A 5-point likert-scale questionnaire was administered to respondents, of which 334 copies of the questionnaire were returned useful, obtaining a 98 percent response rate. The study adopted descriptive statistics; Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions, simple regression was used to test the individual hypotheses. Based on the analysis, the study found: That there is a moderate, positive and significant effect of investigative accounting on money laundering, there is a moderate, positive and significant effect of investigative accounting on payroll fraud in Nigeria public sectors, there is a weak but positive and significant effect of investigative accounting on assets misappropriation in Nigeria public sector, there is a weak but positive and significant effect of investigative accounting on payroll fraud in Nigeria public sectors. Therefore, the study concluded that, investigative accounting significantly influence financial crime in the public sector and recommends amongst other that, the Nigeria public sector should adopt investigative accounting as a means of handling financial crimes in their organizations, and that the Nigeria public sector should make available and accessible, the components of forensic accounting branded by this study to tackle financial crimes. In-view of the fact that the study unveiled a statistically association between them.