Effect of Internal Control Activity on Financial Accountability and Transparency in Local Government Areas of Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

Local governments in Nigeria being the closest tier of government to the people, occupies a strategic position in public governance. The ordinary expectation is that it should impact meaningfully on the life of the people. However, these objective remains largely unachieved due to lack of financial accountability and transparency in the utilisation and management of public funds. Internal control activity is an important mechanism of transparent and accountable financial resources utilisation in an organisation. This study therefore examines the effect of internal control activity on financial accountability and transparency in local government areas of Borno State, Nigeria. The study was carried out using cross sectional survey design. The study drew a sample of 330 out of 1886 staff of the Treasury and Finance, Administration, and Audit Departments and the Local Government Council Members out of five  of the local government areas of Borno State. The data for the study were collected through the use of the questionnaire instrument. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics as well as regression analysis. The result of the chi-square statistics revealed that internal control activity is ineffective in the local government areas of Borno state. The regression results revealed that internal control activity has insignificant impact on financial accountability but has positive impact on financial transparency in the local government areas of Borno State. The study therefore recommends that Borno state government through the Ministry of local government affairs in conjunction with the local governments’ management should revisit the policies and procedures of internal control activity through reforms in order to strengthen the effectiveness in financial accountability and transparency of the local government areas in the state.

Keywords: Local government, internal control activity, financial accountability and Transparency