Abstract
This research work was meant to
assess the impact of computerization on public sector accounting with
special focus to Niger State Ministry of Finance, Minna as a case study.
Both the public and private sector have adopted the use of electronic
data processing machine in carrying out some of their activities in the
organization. The public sector is sometimes faced with the problems of
installations, the danger of computer fraud, inappropriate software and
hardware of the computer system as well as delays in the computation and
preparation of accounting records and budget estimates. The research
work relied on the use of primary sources of data collection which is a
questionnaire. Chi-square was used to test the hypothesis. The findings
are the organization is fully computerized in carrying out some of its
official activities mainly on the financial records, majority of its
staff are computer literate. There is a relationship among various units
or departments of the ministry, particularly the computer with the
accounting department and other transactions. Importance should be
attached to the use of computers, as it brings about national
development. Despite the early problems that were associated, it is
obvious that the computer is not only an instrument for the development
of an effective accounting system but the building of a sound public
sector.
...
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
The
Nigeria public sector is made up of three tires of government whose power,
responsibilities and relationship are only defined but also guaranteed by the
constitution of the land, the three tiers of federal, state and local
government. They conduct their activities through two major forms of
organization, the ministries/ extra-ministries department and parastatals
(public enterprise). The department includes all corporation, authorities,
board, council and limited liability companies In which government has full or
majority controlling interest in the ministries or departments are referred to
as public offices.
Generally,
in government there is a considerable standardization of accounting records for
internal and external report. This is particularly through the account of the
ministries or department where emphasis has been on accountability and control.
It should be stated that government accounting is based on principles that are
quite different from that of private sector.
The
public sector is an organization which are not privately owned and operated by
individuals, but which are established, run, operated and financed by the
government on behalf of the public as opposed to private sectors, and its
objectives involves the provision of services, where profit is not a primary
objective. Comparisons between the financial function of the public sector and
that of the private sector is difficult to make, this is because the public
organization are multipurpose not dealing with a single product or service and
they have different motives and presence of intangible services whose benefits
are difficult to qualify.
Through
accounting records maintained by government institutions and that of private
sector have the same principles and meanings. The only noticeable difference is
the manner in which information is being presented which normally related to
the need of individuals organization users.
The
essential facts record all historical cost and income which when processed
further becomes useful information necessary for future decision making.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Before
the advent of computer technology data were processed manually, but with
growing complexity in technology electronic system of processing data was
introduced. The problem that Niger State Ministry of Finance, Minna may likely
face are the volume of activities and delay in processing transactions. The
volume of activities that are expected to be handed and the central role of the
ministry of finance serve as the hurb of activities.
Information
need to allocate finance and reports that are supposed to be generated to
evaluate the performance of government business. Delay in processing
transactions may also delay the information needed to prosecute government
business and this will not fast-track the anticipated development need. The
delay in processing transactions may be as a result that the information
technology was not properly functioning.
The
government inability to trace all the items of expenditure (Audit Trail). The
pattern of allocation of resources will not be available, once the pattern of
allocation is not traceable, that is where committed to definitely it will be
impossible to evaluate their performance and if it is impossible their
performance then one may not be able to know how far they have been able to
achieve the objective the economy, efficiency and effectiveness and then the
government will continue incurring expenditure on the same project annually
without resources.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The
research has carefully coiled out open – ended questions as a sample research
questions upon which this study is based.
i.
How effective is information technology on
generating financial report for implementing government programmes
ii.
How effective and efficient is information
n technology on maintenance and record keeping.
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The
main purpose of the study is to access the impact of computerization on the activities
of public sector accounting the specific objective includes.
i.
To determine the effect of information
technology on generating financial report for implementing government
programmes.
ii.
To ascertain the effectives and efficiency
of using information technology on maintenance government and record keeping.
1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
For
the purpose of these studies, the following hypothesis have been put forward.
H0:
information technology have been no effect on financial report generated in
implementing government programmes.
H1:
information technology have no effect and efficient on maintenance and record
keeping.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
study is carried out to inform both students and the general public on the
importance of computer technology to the people and their respective business,
data and records of an organization are vital to the organization for effective
decision making and the public sector is not exempted especially in its duty to
report its operational activities to the government that is funding it. In a
nutshell, the study is carried out to enable the management, further
researchers and all form of organization to benefit in the following areas.
i.
It will broaden the mind of the reader on
the impact of computerization most especially in the public sector in their bid
to ensure effective reporting on their stewardship
ii.
The study will also be of immense benefit
to planners, policy makers, and other agencies to appreciate the use of
computerization of their operational activities.
iii.
The study will serve as a source of
information or reference material to their researchers who want to conduct a
research on similar related topic.
1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The
scope of this research work focused on public sector accounting in relation to
computerization adopted within the ministry.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERM
Ø Impact:
the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another
Ø Computerization:
involve the process of taking activities or tasks not previously done on the
computer and shifting them to being done on the computer.
Ø Performance:
the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system compared to the
time and resources used. Also performance can simply be explained as more work
accomplished in shorter time and/or using less resources.
Ø Public Sector:
is the process of recording, communicating, and summarizing, analyzing and
interpreting government financial statement in aggregate and in details.