THE IMPACT OF EXTERNAL AUDITING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Local Governments in Nigeria have been featured  with  gross financial mismanagement to the extent that the government had decides to institute periodical restricting and reform programmers. In the existence of  integrity, effectiveness and efficiency in utilization of resources, the council can easily obtain unqualified audit opinion from CAG. Failure to obtain unqualified audit reports may take the council into access  to LGCDG  and  therefore  gives  a  negative  impact to the  authority  it terms of service provision.It  was that  reason therefore, that prompted to carry about a study  to  assess  whether local authorities effectively implement  financial management systems by conducting a study  at uyo  Municipal  Council.The research  methods  employed  were:-questionnaires  observation and interviews.The researcher employed  simple selection  techniques.A  sample  of  45  respondents  was  selected  from  a  total population  of  units  of  inquiry.The study findings  revealed that; still  there  some weakness in terms of enforcing procedures and principles guiding the authorization and  access  of  organization’s  assets  and  documents Also  the  study  found  an increasing  rate  of  improperly  vouched  expenditure  year  after  year  and  improper approvals,improperdocumentation  and attachment.The study  also found existence of  over  expenditure  on  some  common  items  like  fuels  and allowances,caused  by insistence of a reliable  computerized system for  budgeting and accounting  activities.On  the  part  of  the  functioning  of  the  external  audit  unit,the  findings  revealed  a weakness on reporting channel.The study finally  found that, the  financial management systems  in  local government Authorities  are  slightlyeffective,so for improvement, the study recommends:the immediate computerization of  the  accounting  and  budgeting  systems,thatperformance.Finally; the council  internal auditor should report direct to councilorsand  to  ministry  responsible.The  researcher  really  hopes  that  the  output  of  this research  study  shall  be  of  practical  use  to other  individualscholars,Institutions  of higher learning and Local Government Authorities of Nigeria.

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the research findings on the role of external Audit in improving LocalGovernment  Authority.  Though thereare  several  aspects  of  management control systems in organizations, the researcher focused only on the financial aspect. The  study  therefore,  explored  the  status  of  local  government  authorities  (LGAs) external audit roles in achieving the council’s predetermined goals and objectives. The study was conducted in uyo Municipal Council (UMC)  in the period of December 2011 to June 2012. The chapter also deals with giving the background of  the Local Government Council (LGAs), background of the problem, statement of the problem,  objective  s  of  the  study,  research  questions,  significance  of the  study, scope, limitation of the study that the researcher will face and delimitation which in turn will help in investigating this topic of the study coming to the good conclusion and recommendations. From this subject a number of areas will be covered in detail, which  includes  the  theory  behind  audits  and  other  control  bodies  which  promotes public  sector  accountability  through  good  corporate  governance, effective  risk management  and  transparency  in  government  operations  in  fulfilling  the  pre-set objectives.