Authors
Michael Olusegun
Abstract
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.
Sample
This figure shows the responses of experienced chartered accountants about the measures put in place to mitigate the inherent errors hindering the full utilization of spreadsheet resources among accountants.
60%(30% strongly) accepted that errors and omissions are common features of worksheets despite the fact that same percentage were involved from start to end of spreadsheet development.
70% of the accountants disagreed that management do periodic reviews and backups which are essential in reducing the drawbacks of spreadsheets application.
Publication
2016, Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Volume 2, Issue 8, pages 781-790
Full article
Accountants' perceptions of the use of Excel spreadsheet in financial reporting
