FORENSIC AUDIT AND FINANCIAL CRIMES IN NIGERIA PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract

This study examined the effect of forensic audit and financial crimes in Nigeria public sector.                      A conceptual framework research model was developed to envelope the four specific objectives, research questions, and hypotheses. Simple random sampling technique was adopted and six (6) departments to obtain 350 respondents. A 5-point likert-scale questionnaire was administered to respondents, of which 334 copies of the questionnaire were returned useful, obtaining a 98 percent response rate. The study adopted descriptive statistics; Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions, simple regression was used to test the individual hypotheses. Based on the analysis, the study found: There is a moderate, positive and significant impact of investigative accounting on money laundering, There is a moderate, positive and significant effect of investigative accounting on payroll fraud in the public sectors of Nigeria There is a weak but positive and significant effect of litigation support service on money laundering in Nigeria public sector, there is a weak but positive and significant effect of litigation support service on payroll fraud in Nigeria public sectors. Therefore, the study concludes that, forensic audit significantly influence financial crime in the public sector and recommends amongst other that, the Nigeria public sectors should adopt investigative accounting as a means of handling financial crimes in their organizations, and that the Nigeria public sectors should make available and accessible, the components of forensic accounting branded by this study to tackle financial crimes, in view of the fact that the study unveiled a statistically association between them.