Treasury Single Account Practices In Nigeria and Its Impact on Accountability (A Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service)

ABSTRACT: This study was carried out to investigate Treasury Single Account Practices In Nigeria and Its Impact on Accountability (A Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service). To achieve this objective, four research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. A structured questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data collection from the staff of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Uyo. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and tables to analyze research questions and Chi-square statistical method was used for testing of research hypotheses.

After careful analysis of the data, the following findings were revealed that there is a need for the implementation of TSA in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); the implementation of TSA enhance the revenue generation and accountability in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The study was concluded with some recommendations that government should engage in massive public enlightenment about the important of the policy, government should overhaul the capacity of the State Ministry of Finance and the CBN to cope with challenges associated with enforcement of the provisions of the TSA.

Treasury Single Account Practices In Nigeria and Its Impact on Accountability (A Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Following the directives of President Muhamadu Buhari in August 2015, federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were to implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with immediate effect. This means that all government accounts were to be unified in a single unit for the effective management of its finances, bank and cash position. Therefore, MDA’s that were vetted to comply must closed all revenue account maintained in different banks or branches and transfer the proceeds to the TSA maintained by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Under this directive, it is only by the TSA that MDAs can access funds approved in their budget.

A TSA is a unified structure of government bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of government cash resources (Pattanayak & Fainboin, 2015). Based on the principle of unity of cash and the unity of treasury, a TSA is a bank account or a set of linked accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments.

The major benefit of a Treasury Single Account is to enhance government revenue generation and to ensure transparency and accountability in government expenditure (Adams, 2015). It could also help to minimize revenue leakages that have been a major challenge to the growth and development the Nigerian Economy (Eme and Chukwurah, 2015). The introduction of TSA has put a stop to the MDAs that manage their finances like independent entities and remit revenue to government treasuries at will. If TSA is properly guided and there is constant review of this policy, financial recklessness of Akwa Ibom State Board of Revenue Service will be curtailed and force spending within the approved budget provisions.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

For a very long time the government of Nigeria has had its fragmented arrangement of which revenues generated by its agencies are paid into various accounts. The government had no complete control or accurate data or statistics on amount paid, hence embezzlement, mismanagement, Siphoning and theft become the order of the day. The economic situation in the country presently make the government to look inward on how government could improve the revenue generation and bridge the gap of corruption, misapplication and mismanagement of public funds. Challenges against the adoption of TSA policy in Nigeria is enormous, initially, some MDAS are against the implementation of TSA because of their usual and sharp dealings with the public funds.

However, the implementation of this policy is a critical step towards curbing mismanagement of funds in public sector and to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public funds and also enables efficient control and monitoring fund flow to critical sectors of the economy to sustain growth and development. Therefore, this study examines treasury single account practices in Nigeria and its impact on accountability in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Treasury Single Account Practices In Nigeria and Its Impact on Accountability (A Study of Federal Inland Revenue Service)

1.3       Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to examine treasury single account practices in Nigeria and its impact on accountability in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The specific objectives include the following:

(1)        To establish the need for TSA in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

(2)        To determine whether the implementation of TSA enhance the revenue generation and accountability in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

(3)        To find out the problems hindering smooth implementation of TSA in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

(4)        To determine whether treasury single account policy assist in blocking government revenue leakages in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Originally posted on October 29, 2021 @ 11:28 am