Non-compliance with IPSAS promotes fraud – Expert

Unless all the federal government ministries, departments and agencies comply fully with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), fraud will continue to occur at the federal level, an economic expert has said.

In the same vein, he contends that, unless the state and local governments also adopted same IPAS, fraud will also continue to plague the three tiers of government.

The expert made this position at the opening of a three-day training programme which began in Abuja yesterday.

The training programme, which was organised by Double T Consults, in collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), emphasised the need for uniformity in the preparation of financial statements to reflect global standards.

The Principal Consultant of Double T Consult, Mr. Abidemi Olusola Ajao, said most nations, including some developing ones, have already keyed into the IPSAS window in their accounting and financial reporting system.

Stating that the benefits of compliance are long lasting, Ajao warned that the risks associated with non-compliance could jeopardise the country’s public financial and accounting systems, particularly in terms of transparency in public transactions.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its meeting on July 28, 2010, had approved Nigeria’s adoption of the provisions of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) for private and public sectors respectively.

Consequently, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its meeting of June 13, 2011, set up a subcommittee to provide a roadmap for the implementation of IPSAS in the three tiers of government in Nigeria.