ACCOUNTANT’S ATTITUDE TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING IN NIGERIA

 

ABSTRACT

Accountants occupies a very unique position in any organization as, he is always referred to as the life-wire of his establishment. Accounting as a profession has come of age and current developments demand of Accountant to go an extra mile before he could be adjudged as an achiever. However, since the Accountant does not operate in a vacuum, he has several forces to contend with if only he is to succeed in this environment that is saddled with political and economic manipulations. This study examines some of those problems such as political, economic, and ethical facing the profession. Being a theoretical review it went further to discuss their influences on the Accountants performance in the light of the environment in which he operates. The study was concluded by recommending some policy options, which the Accountant should observe as necessary qualities for the accomplishment of the Herculean task ahead of him. These include: the maintenance of the professional integrity, prudency in spending, accountability in operations and, transparency in disposition all of which, will enable him succeed in the face of all those hindering.

INTRODUCTION

Accountants occupy various roles in world commerce. Many accountants (of varying descriptions - financial accountants, management accountants, internal auditors, etc.) occupy vital - and often highly placed - positions in industry and commerce and in the public sector. Others work in professional firms of auditors. These firms provide auditing, taxation, accounting and a range of consultancy services to every conceivable branch of society - from multi-nationals to governments, from small and medium sized enterprises to international charities and local non-governmental organizations.

Although the accounting sector itself might be considered a relatively low-impact sector in terms of direct environmental and social impacts, it is the accountant's involvement in the twin issues of organizational decision-making and external reporting that imposes on the accounting profession the responsibility for understanding, absorbing and articulating the implications of the sustainable development debate. The importance of the role of the accounting profession should not be under-stated. Global capital markets are heavily dependent on the intermediary / assurance role that accountants occupy - whether as auditors of listed company financial statements or as reporting accountants in initial public offerings. The continuing reverberations from the collapse of US energy trader Enron demonstrate the intimacy of the relationship between the profession and the market.

As will be explored in more detail below, the accounting profession first addressed environmental issues directly in 1990 and, since then, progress has been achieved on many fronts. Progress is, however, contingent on the availability of an appropriate mix of resources and concern on the one hand, and the pressure from competing issues on the other. There is little doubt that the accounting profession has - at some levels - a sufficiency of tangible and intellectual resources and concern to be able - theoretically - to address social, environmental and sustainable development issues with the appropriate degree of urgency. It is perhaps the competing issues of the 1990's that have meant that progress in engaging with the sustainable development debate has not been as rapid as some would have hoped.

This sectorial term paper presents a description of the accountant’s attitude to the development and implementation of social and environmental accounting in Nigeria.

THE UNIQUENESS AND TYPOLOGIES OF NIGERIAN ACCOUNTANT

Out of all the known professionals, the Accountant seems the most mobile as he is unavoidable in almost all the facets of human endeavors. While most of the other professionals are restricted to their areas of operations such that, the Medical Doctor is found in the hospital, the Lawyer in the Chamber or Court, and the Engineer in the factory or workshop. In the case of the Accountant, he is everywhere and hence we have hospital Accountant, factory/workshop Accountant, Accountant in government service,

Industry\ academia and of course consultancy and professional services. It is no gain saying that, what blood is to the body is what money is to business and by inference what the Accountant (the custodian of money) is to his organization and indeed, the Nation. For the enhancement of the performance of his duties according to Edet (2001), Accountant has to undertake the followings: record keeping (book keeping); cost accumulation for decision making (performance evaluation, control, predictions and crises management); auditing and investigation: tax management and other management advisory services such as: liquidation, acquisition and mergers, privatization and commercialization. In conducting or performing those duties, the profession is governed by rules of conduct which include: independence; prudence; consistency and objectivity.

Here in Nigeria the Accountant by the nature of the job he does can be classified into different categories which for the purpose of this paper, is discussed under only four headings of government, industry, academic and practice.