The study interrogated the relationship between internal audit function and creative accounting practices in the public service domain in Nigeria using Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as the focal group. The study is based on the continuous cases of fraud in the public service, evidenced by bogus financial reports inundating the Nigerian civil service domain that is anchored on agency and information theories and shaped via the survey approach, by gathering data from systematically sampled respondents of the internal audit unit of MDAs based in Bayelsa State. Using the SPSS tool to analyse the data collected via a structured questionnaire which observed that the internal audit function has a bearing on creative accounting practices in MDAs. Thus, this inferred that as the first line of defence against financial fraud in the internal control context, an efficient internal audit can certainly curb accounting information manipulations and this forms the basis for recommending that; provide enabling environment for the optimal functioning of the internal audit unit in all MDAs, imposition of appropriate sanctions on staffers of MDAs that compromise the common good for private interest as stewards of public resources, a stronger regulatory regime with adequate enforcement machinery for ensuring compliance with accounting and auditing standards should institutionalise in all MDAs in Nigeria, regular training of audit staff to apprehend current developments in accounting practice, as well as ensure the employment of qualified audit staff with the requisite skills and appropriate remuneration.

This study meta-analytically pooled and synthesized thirty studies related to ethical compliance and locus of control in the light of auditors' independence and public and professional commitment. This was informed by the increasing corporate and audit failures recorded in the early 2000s despite existing professional ethics. Qualitative information were obtained from synthesized related studies and coded into quantitative data for analysis. The translated data were tested using OLS with the E-view 9 software for correlation and regression analyses. The regression analysis revealed a strong positive relationship between locus of control and ethical compliance, hence, the only hypothesis in the study was rejected, and the conclusion of the study is that, "ethical compliance is a function of an individual accountant or auditor's locus of control". Consequently, the study recommends that professional bodies and institutions should consider personality factors in the setting and implementation of professional ethics.

One of the greatest evils ravaging the economies of developing and developed countries in the information age is financial crime with implications for the adequacy of the auditor's report. Therefore, this study is designed to qualitatively explore and interrogate available literatures, towards ascertaining whether the scope and content of audit and auditor's report meet the information needs and/or expectations of financial statement users in the anti-graft age, and to examine whether the conventional audit report can furnish anti-graft agencies with the required information that will enable them fight financial crimes. To achieve the above objectives, the quasi-judicial, credibility, inspired confidence and policeman theory of auditing were explored. Existing literatures revealed an expectation gap (in assurance and content) between auditors and financial statement users. Related literatures also suggest that conventional financial auditing tools and methods, especially audit sampling are not adequate to detect and prevent fraud and errors in the information age, and that the conventional audit report cannot meet the information needs of anti-graft agencies. The conclusion of the study is that conventional auditors, unlike forensic auditors, are mere watchdogs and not blood-hounds, and as a result cannot proactively detect, prevent and investigate fraud. Consequently, it is recommended that forensic auditing should be deployed in corporate settings to peruse and investigate the facts behind the figures in reported corporate earnings as this would boost not only investors' confidence but the credibility of financial reports and that conventional auditors should acquire investigative skills and technology.

The rise of accounting scandals has prompted the need to improve the relevance of financial reporting by setting up good corporate governance structures. The relationship between corporate governance and fraudulent activities has been strongly debated in the developed countries. It is recently that attention has turned to the study of corporate governance and financial reporting in developing countries. This paper examines and investigates the effects of corporate governance codes in curbing fraudulent activities in private organisations in Nigeria. This means that this paper is comparing two codes, the one of 2011 and the newer one of 2016. Specifically, this piece of work focuses on the characteristics of boards of directors and audit committees of 20 private companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange during the period 2011-2016, by analysing whether the independent directors on boards and audit committees are associated with reduced levels of fraudulent activities. The objective of this study is to: 1) Ascertain whether a higher number of independent directors on boards of directors are associated with less fraudulent activities. 2) Investigate whether audit committees comprising independent directors are associated with less fraudulent activities. The study gathered data from the companies on the Nigerian stock exchange and the fraudulent activities variable, which is used to refer to either financial fraud or manipulated earnings was measured by discretionary accruals according to Dechow et al. (1995). The financial statements of the companies were used to determine discretionary accruals and the corporate governance variable data were obtained from the company's corporate governance information as presented in their annual reports. The results supported the null hypotheses:1) Companies with higher number of independent directors on boards are associated with less fraudulent activities. 2) Companies with audit committees comprising independent directors are associated with less fraudulent activities. Therefore, the study adds to the limited research of the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and fraudulent activities in Nigeria. It has also provided empirical evidence on the importance of some of the regulatory requirements established by the Nigerian Corporate Governance Codes.

Government Has No Business Being in Business: Evidence to the Contrary 1. Introduction The capitalist business paradigm forecloses government involvement in the ownership and management of business ventures. It is a foregone conclusion from the capitalist's model that government's participation in the ownership and running of a business is a recipe for failure. In furtherance of this doctrine, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have canvassed vigorously across the African hemisphere for outright non-involvement of government in the business domain, beyond providing the legal cum regulatory framework and creating the enabling environment for promoting private ownership of the business world. Following which, the model and path to economic development sold to African nations is that, a private sector-driven economy is the ultimate pathway to socioeconomic development and that government's direct involvement forecloses development. This submission by the International Monetary Agencies is supposedly well collocated based on the empirical evidence of the mass failure of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in most parts of the budding African economic hemisphere. The evidence provided in the existing literature about the commonality that characterised the early postindependence era in African countries was the setting up of massive SOEs across the African economic landscape. The prevalence of state promoted corporate entities was predicated as observed by (Obara & Ogoun, 2014), on the near absence of private ownership of investment funds to deploy for economic ventures. Arguably, the pattern of administration used in these economies by their respective colonial administrators did not foster the growth of indigenous private venture capital, which created a general scenario after independence, only the respective governments could harness the needed resources to commit on such large-scale investments. An extension of this colonial economic management strategy, was the design of the colonised economies as feeder economies, thus creating a business model that created space only for colonial venture capitalists to thrive. Developing local indigenous capacity was not on the table. Accordingly, upon attainment of independence, governments of the emerging nations all over the African continent became the prime investors in their respective economies. Some of the investments undertaken centrally were as a result of nationalisation policies initiated as a counteractive measure geared towards toning down colonial influence through the ownership of the strategic heights the national economies. Thus, the strategic heights of most newly independent African states were nationalised, following the independence struggle. Quite sadly, the African continental SOEs domain manifested a common viral disease by of way of massive failures of SOE(s). The available statistics from Nigeria to most other African countries is indicative of this massive failure trend. Discontinuation of SOEs constrained various studies and recours...