Forensic Accounting a Panacea to Alleviation of Fraudulent Practices in Nigeria

Fraudulent practices among Nigerians are major challenges facing the development of the country. The federal government has been making several efforts by setting up many anti corruption institutions to reduce cases of fraud and other economic crimes but the efforts seemed not to have been effective. This study attempts to look at the relevance of forensic accounting in the effective reduction in fraudulent practices in Nigeria. The study employed multiple regression technique to analyze the empirical data collected through questionnaire and oral interview and the hypothesis formulated was also tested. The results of the hypotheses tested revealed that fraud reduction is significantly and positively related to fraud investigation and detection through forensic accounting (p=0.01; β1=0.409). Since p=0.01 is significant at 5%, the hypothesis that said fraud prevention is not significantly related to fraud investigation and detection through the employment of forensic accounting technique was rejected. Since the anticorruption commission did not have a forensic accounting unit at the time of this study, it is therefore recommended that forensic accounting unit be established by the commission and experts should be employed to ensure proper investigation of cases of fraud to assist the courts in effective prosecution of persons accused of fraudulent practices. INTRODUCTION One of the major challenges facing the development of the nation is fraudulent practices among the citizens of the country. Pathetically, Nigeria was ranked by Transparency International (TI) 134th in 2010 and 143rd in 2011 out of 183 countries surveyed in terms of public perception of corruption. The negative effect of corruption on development has made Nigerian government to seek for solution on how to combat the menace. This may explain why several such institutions have been established in Nigeria. Among these are the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The key feature here, however, is effectiveness and its lack may be one reason why the existence of these institutions has not, apparently, resulted in significant reductions in the perceived level of corruption in Nigeria. Oyejide (2008), further submitted that where the rules, laws and processes which the government relies upon to influence behaviour and actions lack adequate transparency, a fertile ground for fraudulent practices may be created and sustained rather than being eliminated. It goes without saying that where the top political leaders at every level of government do not provide the right example, it is difficult to expect that the other elements which sustain the quality of bureaucracy and help to keep corruption at bay can be maintained. Forensic Accounting technique is a viable tool in combating economic crime. Crumbley, Heitger and Smith (2009) said forensic accounting is the action of identifying, recording, settling, extracting, sorting, reporting and verifying past financial data or other accounting activities for settling current or prospective legal disputes or using such past financial data for projecting future financial data to settle legal disputes. According to Amundsen (1999:1) Corruption is found almost everywhere, but it is stubbornly entrenched in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is widespread in Latin America, it is deep rooted in many of the newly industrialised countries, and it is reaching alarming proportions in several of the post-communist countries. It is understood as everything from the paying of bribes to civil servants in return for some favour and the theft of public purses, to a wide range of dubious economic DADA Samuel O. et al | Int.J.Buss.Mgt.Eco.Res., Vol 4(5),2013,787-792 www.ijbmer.com | ISSN: 2229-6247