Adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) on Financial Accountability and Transparency of Selected Local Governments in Ogun State

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the impact of IPSAS adoption on financial accountability, transparency and credibility of financial management at the local level of government in Ogun State. Primary source of data was employed in this study. Three local governments were selected for the administration of thirty questionnaires each, given to conveniently selected members of the Accounting department, Internal Audit department and Finance department across the selected local government in Ogun State. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics while the hypotheses were tested using regression analysis to examine the impact of IPSAS adoption on financial accountability and transparency of local government in Nigeria. The result of this research shows that IPSAS adoption has a significant positive impact on financial accountability (t=8.117; p=.006) and credibility of financial management at the local level of government (t=1.221; p=.002), however, IPSAS has no significant impact on transparency (t=2.932; p=.091). This study recommends that government should enforce the adoption of IPSAS since its adoption has significantly improved and enhanced the level of financial accountability, transparency and credibility of financial management in local government.