Determinants of Internal Audit Function Outsourcing Among Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Lagos State (Published)
Micro, Small and Medium Scale enterprises (MSMEs) are recognized globally as the bedrock of meaningful development in any economy. MSMEs significantly contribute to employment and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in emerging economies. Sequel to the economic recession, the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) established a N75billion survival fund to revitalize the MSMEs in the county. Consequently, and to ensure effective utilization of the fund, the study examines the key factors influencing the outsourcing of internal audit function (IAF) among MSMEs in Lagos State. The study adopted survey research design, using purposive sampling technique to select 170 respondents among registered MSMEs by SMEDAN in Lagos. An adapted structured questionnaire was used to collect data, validated using Cronbach alpha with 85% percent response rate. Descriptive and inferential analysis revealed that factors influencing (IAF) outsourcing include asset specificity (3.35), environmental uncertainty (3.53) and cost of auditing (3.43) mean value. This implies that insufficient in-house knowledge, availability of external service providers and cost benefit analysis are major reasons for IAF outsourcing by MSMEs in Nigeria. The study recommended that owners and managers’ of MSMEs should ensure that audit functions are outsourced to external professionals in order to achieve high audit quality at a reduced cost.
Keywords: Cost, Environmental Uncertainty, Internal Audit, Outsourcing, asset specificity
Implications Of Financial Intermediation Cost On Economic Growth In Nigeria (Published)
There is a growing concern as to whether the cost of financial intermediation is having commensurate beneficial implication on economic growth in Nigeria. The main objective of this study is to determine the implications of cost of financial intermediation on economic growth in Nigeria. The study made use of ordinary least square regression analysis. Results for ADF unit root tests show that all variables under consideration are I(1). The co-integration test also indicates long run relationship between cost of financial intermediation and economic growth in Nigeria. The study shows that total loan (TL) has significantly impacted on economic growth in Nigeria, that interest rate has significantly impacted positive on the growth of Nigerian economy and that the level of total deposit over the years has impacted negatively on economic growth in Nigeria. The policy implication is that improper management of financial intermediation cost may have caused several macroeconomic consequences in Nigerian economy and the framework for demonstrating its consequence in the real sector of economy. Hence, the issue of how total loan, interest rate and total deposit linked to the level of economic growth is of a great concern in Nigerian economic performance. We therefore recommend that Nigerian government should ensure that proper control and regulation should be guided the activities of the financial intermediations cost in order to achieve a sound financial system
Keywords: Cost, Economic, Financial, Growth, Intermediation, Nigeria