Public service and financial records

Launching the Accrual Accounting Manual for the full implementation of IPSAS, Vice President Namadi Sambo stated that its implementation would ensure that financial reports of the federal government were comparable with those of the states as well as among states, thereby promoting peer review. In a message to the occasion, Sambo observed that the adoption of the Accrual basis of accounting would ensure a complete, true and fair view of accounting records. It would also promote transparency as well as accountability in financial reporting for public service entities in the country. He directed that the IPSAS be adopted by all tiers of government as from January 1st 2016.
In July 2010, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved that the country adopt the provisions of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the IPSAS, for private and public sector accounting practice respectively. However, it took the outgoing Jonathan administration over four years to actualise the adoption of these global dispensations aimed at fighting corruption.
Public funds that qualify to be tracked with IPSAS include taxes, statutory allocations and transfers among public entities, sundry grants as well as expenditures on projects and other areas of appropriation by the federal states and local governments.
Faithful implementation of this measure will not be without some challenges, given the widespread attitude of public sector officials in the handling public funds without proper accounting.
One of such challenges is the corruption that has grown to be a major problem in the Nigerian society, with its vicious features manifesting in virtually every aspect of national life. Reports of exposed cases of corrupt practices by public officials hardly raise eyebrows, let alone the crime being punished.
It is the menace of corruption that has ensured that social and economic developments elude the country, because vital resources earmarked for public projects are routinely diverted with impunity to private pockets. Even the international image of the country is affected, with Nigeria ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world.
The outgoing administration did not make matters easier as it adopted a laidback approach towards its own declared war on corruption, even as some of its key officials were involved in several high profile cases of malfeasance and breaches of financial regulations.   Whether this sudden attention to accounting procedure is part of a policy of sprucing its image is not clear, but it is significant that it is the same administration that is launching a new accounting regime for the public service whose intent is to fight corruption.
However it is also fortuitous that the IPSAS initiative is coming as a new administration, which has made the fight against corruption a cardinal programme, is about to take office. The advent of IPSAS will prove invaluable for its success in the fight against corruption.
No measure aimed at dealing with corruption would be useful unless those charged with implementing it are committed to the task. The government, particularly the incoming one, needs to be firm in implementing the provisions of the new accounting regime, and ensure that those put in charge are officers of proven integrity.