Accounting Policies and Practices in Nigerian Universities: A Contextual Analysis

This study examines uniformity and comparability of accounting policies and practices in the Nigerian university system. The design employed in data collection is cross-sectional survey of the financial statements of 12 Nigerian universities in the critical area of the quality, presentation, disclosure and content of such statements. The result achieved by applying the chi-square statistic (U.M.P. invariant test) suggests that, Nigerian universities are uniform in the form, types of numbers presented, the layout or format and management of accounting policies. However, their accounting practices are not uniform in the areas of quality, disclosure and content of their financial statements and therefore their overall accounting practices. Following from the findings of this study, some recommendations were made, prominent amongst which was that similar nomenclature should be adopted in the accounting policies and financial statements preparation of all Nigerian universities. This will increase uniformity, understandability and comparability of such financial statements