An Investigation into the Impact of Cash Accounting Basis on Financial Statement Transparency in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

                                                        Abstract:
The study investigated the impact of cash accounting basis on financial statement transparency in tertiary
institutions in Nigeria using Ekiti State as a case study. The population of the study includes relevant staff
in the three public institutions in Ekiti State namely; College of Education Ikere, Ekiti State University and
Federal Polytechnic Ado Ekiti. A total of 299 respondents are sampled and structured questionnaires are
used to elicit information form the respondents on the following variables; accurate record of budget ARB,
Resource management accountability RMA, Quality accounting information QAI and Fraudulent financial
practices FFP. All these are used as the independent variables while, the dependent variable is financial
statement transparency. Both ANOVA and regression analysis result show that, the higher the financial
fraudulent practices the higher the level of financial statement transparency. The implication of the
conclusion is that fraudulent financial practices will also prompt more financial transparency. Quality
accounting information is very germane in promoting financial statement transparency in the institutions
under investigation.Also, resource management accountability has significant direct relationship with
financial statement transparency. Accurate Record and cost of Revenue has a direct relationship with
financial statement transparency but insignificant. The implication is that accurate record and cost of
revenue have not been effective in promoting financial statement transparency in these three institutions.
Key words: Financial Statement transparency, Cash accounting basis, tertiary institutions