CHIKA N. Oguonu1 & CHUKWUKA Ekene Udoka (PhD)2
1Department of Public Administration and Local Government
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State
2Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management,
College of Management Sciences, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture
Umudike, Abia State
*For correspondence, email: chukwuka.ekene@mouau.edu.ng
Abstract
This article paper investigated the nexus between internal control system and management of public organizations in Nigeria while exploring the gains, banes and prospects for improved organizational performance. One of the gains of an effective control system is that it ensures the separation of duties to avoid conflicts of interest and reduce the chances of financial mismanagement. Be that as it may, problems such as difficulty in setting quantitative standard, too many controls, inconsistent controls to name but a few have been some banes in the internal control system of FMC Owerri and Umuahia. A descriptive survey research design was used to elicit firsthand information from the respondent in Federal Medial Centres, Owerri and Umuahia totaling three hundred and twenty (320). The data for the study were from the primary-questionnaire and secondary sources while the null hypothesis was tested using the simple regression analysis technique. The findings of the study show that outsourcing has improved internal control system in FMC, Owerri. For FMCs, Owerri and Umuahia, reason being that the regression test result figures for both organisations show that the null hypotheses (Ho) were rejected because the Sig. Value of 0.000 is less than the tolerable value of significance of the study which is 0.05. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis was upheld. The study recommends among others that a self-evaluation be performed on the organisation‘s internal control because it can help identify possible deficiencies before problems arise and will lead to the implementation of more effective controls. This self-evaluation can often be done by performing a ―walk-through‖ which is simply the act of tracing a transaction through agency records and procedures. The walk through will help provide an understanding of process and control design, particularly with respect to controls that may help prevent or detect fraud, a determination of whether controls have been designed effectively and actually placed in operation, and help identify points in the organizational processes where errors might occur.