INFLUENCE OF CONTROL ACTIVITIES ON PREVENTION OF FINANCIAL FRAUD IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA
Abstract
This study examined the influence of control activities on financial fraud prevention in federal universities in South-East Nigeria. Specifically, the study investigated the extent to which authorization, verification, and physical controls influence the prevention of financial fraud. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 1,287 audit and bursary staff from six federal universities in the region, from which a sample size of 288 respondents was drawn using the Krejcie and Morgan table and selected through purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire titled Control Activities and Financial Fraud Prevention Questionnaire (CAFFPQ). The instrument was validated by experts and its reliability established using Cronbach Alpha, yielding a coefficient of 0.83. Data collected were analyzed using simple linear regression at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that authorization has a great extent influence on financial fraud prevention, while verification and physical controls have a very great extent influence. The results further indicated that authorization, verification, and physical controls each have a statistically significant influence on the prevention of financial fraud in federal universities in South-East Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concluded that effective implementation of control activities significantly enhances financial fraud prevention in universities. It was recommended, among others, that university administrators should strengthen authorization procedures, enforce rigorous verification processes, and implement robust physical control measures to safeguard financial resources and ensure accountability.References
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