Spreadsheet and accountants perceptions published articles

Spreadsheet, a widely accepted critical business application tool with its benefits and unavoidable inadequacies is relied on by many accountants for financial reporting and operational processes despite the availability of accounting softwares. The aim of this research paper was to know the value placed by accountants on the use of excel spreadsheets in accounting information system and its relationship with quality of financial reports in Nigeria. Using a sample of fifty experienced chartered accountants in manufacturing firms, and adopting questionnaires to gather primary data- the Pearson Moment Correlation co-efficient, Z-statistics and simple statistical tools for analysis. The first hypothesis

shows result of 0.45 below the standard 0.5 hence it is concluded that a positive but weak relationship

exist, while the second hypothesis confirms the various measures put in place to mitigate ameliorate the perceived errors and risks in the use of spreadsheet, but lack of periodic review and back up challenges are still issues, Z statistics is negative at 0.05 confidence level. The results indicated weak relationship with financial report quality and measures in place to mitigate errors not good enough. The findings of the study may have implications for the firms’ management staff and accountants, as they revealed the acceptance of spreadsheets as an integral resources of the organization which must be effectively controlled to avoid drop in quality of financial reports. It is recommended that accountants update their skills through training on the full utilization of spreadsheet resources, while additional efforts put in place to do periodic review of controls and manage back up issues.