Improving the Internal Control Mechanisms

This work is an exploratory study on improving the internal control mechanisms of listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria through the application of forensic accounting. A survey was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire to a sample of 230 respondents which was composed of some members of the staff of the listed DMBs, the Big-4 Audit firms, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and some Forensic Accountants in public/consultancy practice. The study employed descriptive statistics and bivariate regression analysis to analyze the data. The hypothesis tested showed that the forensic accounting application could significantly improve the internal control mechanisms of the institutions. The overall implication of the findings is that forensic accounting application in the listed DMBs is possible and necessary to complement the existing practice of internal audit/inspection to further strengthen the internal control of the organizations.