THE EFFECT OF INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (IPSASS) ON THE EXPENDITURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN NIGEIRA

Abstract

It is believed in many quarters that Nigeria is corrupt and that this has led to opaque record keeping and little or no accountability, even at the local government level. This study examined the transparency and accountability of the Nigerian local governments, by x-raying their revenues and expenditures between 1993 and 2012.  The study used both primary and secondary data employing Ordinary least square technique.  It was found that both internally generated revenue and grants have a positive relationship with the Nigerian local governments’ expenditure. It was found out that IPSASs’ implementation committees were not effective at Nigerian local government as at 1^st January 2015.(did you get up to 2015 ?) The study concluded that no sustainable development would be achieved in Nigeria if the Nigeria local governments’ expenditure continues to increase without a corresponding increase in internally generated revenue, grants and effective accountability and transparency. The study therefore recommended that the expenditure in Nigerian local governments should be reduced while the internally generated revenue and grants should be improved upon. Also, IPSASs implementation committees in Nigerian local governments should be alive to their responsibilities so as to guarantee accountability and transparency in the financial reporting at local governments. What did we actually study – Is it to find if IPSAS, helped in accountability and transparency at the local government level or if the local governments where ‘self-funding’ (have enough resources generated internally).

Key words: Local government, Revenue, IPSASs implementation, Transparency and Accountability