ABSTRACT

The objective of the study is to examine forensic accountants’ skills/characteristics and the impact on fraud detection in the public sector in Nigeria using Edo State as a case study. The population of the study are staffs of accounting, auditing and internal control departments of selected public ministries in Edo State. The justification for this choice is because those departments are directly involved in financial record keeping, financial verification and fraud investigations. The convenience sampling technique was employed to derive a sample of 150 respondents. The primary source of data was used for the purpose of this study. The research instrument is the use of questionnaire. A reliability test was conducted on the questionnaire using the Cronbach’s Alpha test.

The Stereotype Ordinal regression technique suitable for qualitative data was used for the analysis. The results from the regression reveals that litigation skills (LTS) have a positive (0.0834) and significant (p=0.019) effect on fraud detection. Accounting and auditing skills (AAS) have a positive (0.0834) and significant (p=0.019) effect on fraud detection.

In line with the findings, the study recommends that accountants and auditors in the public sector be trained in forensic accounting competences, regular and periodic trainings is also recommended for accountants and auditors in the public sector to improve their accounting and auditing skills and this will improve fraud detection Furthermore, the study recommends that there is still the need to improve investigative skills of public sector accountants in relation to forensic accounting and massive investments in forensic analytical skills training for accountants and auditors in the public sector.