White Collar Crime and Accounting Standards in the Nigerian Public Sector

This survey examined the spate of white collar crime in the Nigerian public sector and the extent to which existing accounting standards are helping to stem the occurrence of the crime. Two null hypotheses were formulated and the primary data used to test the hypotheses were obtained using structured questionnaire while secondary data were obtained from annual accounts of State Governments and reports from similar studies. The study used averages, percentages, chi-square and Spearman’s ranked correlation coefficient tested at 5% level of significance for analyses of the data obtained during the study. It also made use of averages and simple percentage. The study revealed that noncompliance with accounting standards is responsible for the increasing spate of white collar crime in the Nigerian public sector and that absence of forensic accounting courses in the training programme of practicing accountants are responsible for inability of auditors to detect, early enough, white collar crime in the public sector thereby aggravating the scam. The study also revealed that flexibility of principle based on standard is a serious threat to enforcement of compliance with the standards especially in a developing economy such as Nigeria. Hence, forensic accounting courses should be incorporated into the final level professional examination of the two accounting institutes in Nigeria.