NTA’s STRATEGY FOR TRANSPARENT FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION: A STUDY OF INTERNAL CONTROL AT NTA ABA

MATTHEWS OTALIKE

15816877

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS

INSTRUCTOR

CHURCHILL WILSON

JUNE 20, 2012

CHAPTER ONE

BACKROUND

The gale of financial accounting scandal sweeping away corporate governance across the globe has

had its share in the Nigerian economy. The malpractice has led to bankruptcy of many banks in

Nigeria in the past twenty-five (25) years. Lack of accountability is worse in the institutions

established and run by government. It is so bad that Nwachukwu (2012) quoted KPMG’s report that

fraud cases in Nigeria and South Africa involved $10.87 trillion. On their part, Obateru & Dakat

(2011) reported that one of Nigeria’s accounting regulatory bodies, Association of National

Accountants of Nigeria laments the rising level of corruption inspite of the increase in the number of

professional accountants in the country.

The management of most government-owned agencies are known to engage in mismanagement

and as a result, the government privatised some of its revenue generating organizations. By

privatizing them, they have to generate revenue to fund their operations and remit 25% of the gross

to the government. The Nigerian Television Authority (N.T.A.) is one of such agencies. In its own

case, NTA was rather partially commercialized and not wholly privatized. In view of its public service

role (NTA Handbook 1981), the government pays the emolument of all workers in NTA but the firm

funds its running cost.

The Nigerian Television Authority is a national television network for the people of Nigeria. It was

established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1976 to provide public service broadcasting in

the interest of Nigeria. The television organization as a national outfit is to provide independent and

impartial service to all Nigerians as a tool for national development and integration. The core values

of the Nigerian Television Authority include among others, professionalism, accuracy, credibility,

impartiality, balance and objectivity, national interest, social responsibility and commitment to world

peace. At the time of its establishment, there were ten television stations located in Ibadan, Enugu,

Kaduna, Lagos, Benin, Jos, Portharcourt, Kano, Sokoto and Aba. The ten television stations were

hitherto, owned by the governments of the states where they operated but brought together under

federal administration to enable the federal government supervise their operations.

The television authority was established in 1976 through Decree 24 (the military was in power then)

with a Director-General as chief executive. It has six directorates covering six professional areas in

television – News, Programmes, Engineering and Marketing. The rest are Finance and Administration

and Training and Capacity Building. Each directive is headed by an Executive Director. The Director-

General and Executive Directors constitute the Board of Management of the Authority. However,

the Board of Directors is a body of people appointed by government from outside the organization

to superintend the operations of the organization. The authority started operation with six stations

located in the country’s six geo-political zones but it has established operational presence in ninety-

four locations across Nigeria. (Appendix 1: Organizational structure)

The Nigerian Television Authority was initially fully funded by the owner Federal Government but

later became self-accounting when it was partially commercialized in 1995. To sustain its operations,

the organization stepped up its revenue generation through quality programming, news and

aggressive marketing.

To ensure accountability and transparency in its finances, the management board of N.T.A. created

two separate departments in the Directorate of Finance and Administration. These are departments

of Finance and Audit, each headed by a Director. The Finance Department administers the

accounting operations at all levels of N.T.A. The Chief Accountant in each of the ninety-four stations

reports to the Director of Finance through the General Manager of each station. In the case of audit,

the Internal Auditor in each station reports directly to the Director of Audit at the Authority’s

headquarters to avoid interference from the station’s management.

STAKEHOLDERS IN N.T.A.’S OPERATIONS

The Nigerian Television Authority was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria and

funded through subvention from the public treasury until 1992 when the organization was

partially commercialized by the owner government following an agreement with the

national Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization. The challenge was for

the Authority to engage in partial commercial broadcasting to generate revenue internally

to fund part of its operations.

- The Federal Government of Nigeria as a major stakeholder pays the wages of all the

workers in the organization and monitors the internally generated revenue, IGR to

ensure effective collection and utilization. The government does the monitoring

through internal and external auditing and a centralized management structure that

any project to be undertaken by any station from its IGR must follow a due process –

public tender for bid from interested contractors and competitive pricing. NTA Aba

needed to buy two cameras for its operations and sample the prices from three

reputable dealers in Nigeria and passed same to the Authority’s headquarters for

approval. After confirming the true market price, approval was given and the station

bought the cameras. Such control checked any possible fraud in purchases and

capital projects;

- Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, the body that regulates the

acceptance and transmission of all advertisements is also a major stakeholder. It

monitors all advertisements to ensure that standards are met and that advertising

agencies which are found to breach APCON codes in their productions are brought to

book (Egbagbe, et al 2007);

- The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC is the regulatory body that grants

licences and spaces to all radio and television stations to operate. It established six

zonal offices and one outlet in each state capital to monitor all operations the

broadcast media across the country to ensure they do not breach the code of

practice (NBC Code, 4th Ed);

- Marketers who take up airspace through advertisement and sponsorship of

programmes are another set of stakeholders in Nigeria. They monitor transmission

to ensure that their adverts and programmes are run properly as scheduled;

KEY RESOURCES

- The Nigerian Television Authority Aba radiates the maximum 10Kw power of its

transmitter. The very strong signal which is its major resource covers the adjoining

states of Abia, Imo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and parts of Anambra state.

- The station transmits 24/7 and therefore has much airtime to avail marketers.

- The station also has qualified and trained professionals who keep the engine of its

servicing running without hitch

- A vibrant marketing department has sold ninety percent of the airtime available to

the station.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE IN N.T.A. ABA

Nigerian Television Authority, Aba is being led by a management team made up of the

heads of the six departments with the General Manager at the apex. The General Manager

is the station’s Chief Executive Officer, CEO. He in turn is accountable to the Director

General of the Authority at its headquarters, Abuja. The management team is responsible

for ensuring that the station’s day-to-day operations are in line with the objectives of the

entire authority from transmission to programmes production, News, marketing, finance

and human resources.

- The management meets monthly to review all the station’s activities, iron out

observed challenges, smoothen rough edges and discuss tenders for projects

approved the Authority’s central management at the headquarters;

- It is also the responsibility of the management to draw up strategic plans for the

station and see to their realization;

- The management draws up the budget for the station in which the heads of all

departments participate actively and see to its implementation. The Chief

Accountant is a member of the management team as the head of finance.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL

The aims and objectives of the Finance department are complementary to the main and

overall objectives of the Nigerian Television Authority. The department is responsible for

receiving all incomes due to the Authority, makes authorised payment expenditure and

manages the organization’s funds and accounts for same to the Director-General who is the

overall Accounting Officer for the Nigerian Television Authority. The department is headed

by a Chief Accountant who is a management accountant and chartered public accountant.

The Finance department created eight sections in order to segregate responsibilities for the

accounting staff to ensure effective internal control (Peltz, RSM of McGladrey Inc.) They

include the Cash office, salaries and wages, purchases and creditors control, staff advances

and control and commercial sales debtors control units. The rest are stores stock

accounting, financial accounts as well as budget and budgetary control sections. Each

section is headed by an accounting officer with the necessary books of accounts and carries

out the assigned duties as enshrined in NTA’s financial regulations. The Chief Accountant

oversights the work of each of the sections to ensure they keep credible and verifiable

financial records that would be readily verified by external auditors.

There is also an Internal Audit unit. One of the most fundamental responsibilities of the

internal auditor is to provide assurance that internal controls are in place and they are

working (Pricewaterhousecoopers). This unit is empowered to independently audit all the

station’s financial transactions including purchases, advances, claims, the stores and others.

The internal auditor puts up monthly audit report directly to the Director of Audit at the

Authority’s headquarters. The report does not pass through the Chief Account and General

Manager and any audit query raised therefrom is passed to the station’s General Manager

for explanation. The more independent the internal auditor is from management, the more

likely his or her work is to serve the organization’s needs (DiNapoli, 2010). An auditor from

the headquarters also visits the station monthly on oversight even without informing the

station’s management as part of internal checks to ensure that proper accounting standard

is maintained.

Every quarter of the year (three months interval), an external auditor (independent body)

appointed by the Federal Government inspects the books of each of the 94 stations. The

awareness on the role of auditors places on all staff of finance department the responsibility

of ensuring that the right thing is done all the time. In this regard, DiNapoli (2010) argues

that “auditors are trained in assessing the control environment because it is a high-level

indicator of how seriously management takes its responsibility for internal controls and how

well management is meeting this responsibility”.

The internal control system was put in place to provide reasonable assurance that there is

effectiveness and efficiency, reliable financial reporting and compliance with NTA Financial

regulations (Mattie, et al Pricewaterhousecoopers). The system in place makes the role of

accounting in NTA Aba effective. It is properly organized and achieving the transparency and

accountability goal of the central management of the organization and the system is likely

to be in place for a long time until a loophole is discovered. The current Director General of

NTA is a chartered public and management accountant and has emphasised strict

adherence to transparent financial reporting.

CHAPTER TWO

INTRODUCTION

The Nigerian Television Authority Aba transmits 24/7 and its services complement those of

the national network which controls 75% of the airtime daily (See appendix 2 programme

schedule). The station is transmitting about forty half hour programmes on its local channel

and each of the programmes is sponsored (paid for by clients). The law establishing NTA as a

public broadcasting medium says it is not for profit. The Federal Government pays the

wages of the workers and funds part of capital projects of the authority. In view of the

partial commercialization of operations, NTA Aba generates about N3million on the average

every month. However, the station statutorily remits 20% of the gross income back to the

Federal Government in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act passed by the National

Assembly in 2011.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING ANALYSIS

NTA Aba business is relatively healthy as the working capital and liquidity ratios are impressive. The

station generates on average, internally generated revenue of N3million monthly and its recurrent

spending is also within N1million every month through commercial revenue from sale of screen time

(airtime). The station’s profitability ratio can be said to be acceptable considering the fact that the

business is not for profit.

The Federal Government’s recurrent subvention to the station is for the payment of workers’

salaries. At the headquarters level of the authority, the Federal Government sometimes finances

some specific capital projects through capital subvention but it does not flow down to stations. The

station’s financial operation is not geared as it is not a limited liability company but a not-for-profit

government agency. It does not sell stocks nor does it pay dividend other than the 20% remittance

to the Federal Government for fiscal responsibility.

The Finance Department produces weekly cash flow statement to guide the General Manager and

the management on spending. The statement shows the opening balance, income and expenses for

the week and the bank balance (appendix 1). There are also monthly income statement and final

account (balance sheet). These financial statements are submitted to NTA headquarters for scrutiny

to ensure compliance with the Authority’s financial regulations.

WORKING CAPITAL

The working capital management of NTA Aba as indicated in the 2011 balance sheet is sound. This is

evidenced by the figure of current assets of N54, 709,022.20 over current liability of N481, 742.55,

giving a ratio of 113.56. This shows that there are enough current assets available to meet current

liabilities as and when they become due which means the financial strength is growing in relation to

the kind of business venture. Arising from this analysis, one can safely conclude that the station’s

profitability trend suggests that the organization is comfortable in relation to its income and

expenses.

Other Key Ratios: Ratio is one number expressed in terms of the other in order to show the

relationship between the two numbers. The relationship can be expressed as a fraction, percentage

or decimal.

Liquidity Ratio – This shows the ability of the organization to meet its short term obligations as they

fall due, e.g. working capital ratio Current Assets/ Current Liability - shows if the business is

growing

Quick Acid Ratio - cash + receivables - shows potential ability of the firm to meet its

current liabilities

- Activity Ratio: (efficiency ratio) shows how efficiently and effectively assets are being

utilized

- Profitability Ratio – shows how profitable the organization is in relation to its

investment or income

- Solvency Ratio or Gearing Ratio shows the station’s capacity to meet its long term

obligations and how much of the business is financed by debt. This ratio does not

apply in NTA Aba but it is applicable in the Finance department at NTA headquarters.

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF NTA ABA OPERATIONS

NTA Aba is assessed based on the following criteria:

- It’s expansion and the reach of its signals (areas of coverage including viewership)

and not through profit as it was established to operate not-for-profit;

- It is also assessed through its capital project development within its environment;

- The impact of its programmes on the lives of its viewers through its educational,

entertainment and current affairs.

COMPARISON WITH COMPETITORS

There are close competitors of NTA Aba. These include Broadcasting corporation of Abia (owned by

the Abia state government), Modern communications limited (private cable service provider), Rivers

State Television and African Independent Television, AIT. The yardstick for comparison is the volume

of advert placements they attract and the audience a channel attracts, evidenced by the amount of

revenue it generates through the sale of its airtime. NTA Aba is found to be most watched as nine (9)

out of every set of ten (10) persons confirmed that whatever they watch on other channels will not

prevent them from tuning to NTA Aba for News and other interesting informative, educating as well

as entertaining programmes.

STAKEHOLDERS WHO NEED NTA ABA FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

NTA Aba is required to send its financial statements to the headquarters which, in turn, transmits

the statements to the Authority’s Board of Management as well as the parent federal ministry of

information. It is a statutory requirement for every agency of government to render its financial

statement to government. On receipt of the statement, they study the cash flow; value added

statements and the accuracy of notes to accounts against the figures in the Balance Sheet, Income

and Expenditure Statements.

AUDITING OF ACCOUNTS

NTA Aba accounts have been audited and the reports indicate that the statements show the true

and fair view of the state of affairs as at 31 December 2011 and the excess of Income over

Expenditure including cash flow for the year ended that date. Only well designed, properly

implemented and adequately maintained control-related policies and procedures as it is at NTA Aba

can provide management with a reasonable basis for making the implicit assertions that underlie any

financial statement (Ratcliffe & Landes, 2009).

For now, there is nothing on ground and in the records to show any ethical or social issues between

NTA Aba and its operating environment. The management and surrounding community interact

freely. Some qualified members of the community were employed and they are on the staff of the

station. It was part of the demand of leaders of the community in 2002 and as part of the authority’s

social responsibility five persons were employed. Since then, the community sees NTA Aba as its

own and apart from providing security for the station, those who run businesses take up advert

space only on NTA Aba.

CHAPTER THREE

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

NTA Aba is an arm of the umbrella national network with centralized operational rules and

regulations including accounting. There is a structured management accounting system in

place at the NTA headquarters. The role of the Finance department in NTA Aba as in the

other 93 stations is to carry out instructions already worked out by the headquarters.

The station reports to the Finance Directorate at the headquarters through mandatory

monthly and quarterly reports which guide the central management at the headquarters to

further strengthen management accounting in NTA.

The mandatory reports include:

- monthly financial statement;

- commercial income returns;

- expenditure report;

- reconciliation of net liquid fund;

- budgetary control analysis report; and

- Quarterly cash budget.

1. Budget Preparation

Budgets are prepared annually at the beginning of each year. This includes the quarterly

cash budget which is prepared four (4) times a year to enable management appreciate the

liquidity situation of the Authority at the station’s level. To do this, at certain time in the

year, NTA headquarters invites stations to forward the estimates of the revenue to be

generated and their needs within the next fiscal year. As a structured management

accounting system, the invitation from headquarters spells out guidelines to be followed

e.g. personnel emolument should account for a certain percentage of the total estimate of

the overhead.

Budget processes are among the most deeply rooted routines of government. Pollitt (2001)

is of the view that “it involves powerful players and political interests, not least over crucial

distributional issues”. All levels of management participate in the budgeting system so that

the potential benefits of coordinating and controlling operations can be realized.

The budget preparation in NTA Aba is participative as staff participation plays a major role in

achieving successful implementation of the programmes in the budget. Staffs are allowed to

participate in the budgeting exercise as the activities of each department are executed by

the staff during the budget implementation period. As participants in the budgeting process,

they have fewer problems implementing their departmental budgets. Staff participation also

creates a good opportunity to make budgetary control more effective and transparent. Such

environment that enhances control is the foundation upon which all other components of

internal control are based and it sets the tone of an organization (Ratcliffe & Landes, 2009).

2. Variances: The variances are identified and analysed through the use of budgetary

control analysis in which the budget is compared with actual and the variance

analyzed. When an expenditure head is exhausted, virement approval is sought

through the authority of the Director-General or the General Manager. Actually the

budgeting system is not effective for the following reason:-

- As a service providing organization that is technology driven, when a major

breakdown in transmission occurs after the expenditure head for that section has

been spent, in order for the 24/7 operations not to go off air, some emergency

funding has to be done while waiting for the virement approval from the Director-

General.

3. Costing: The costing structure in NTA Aba is Activity Based Costing, ABC. ABC is an

accounting methodology that assigns costs to activities based on their use of

resources, rather than products. In NTA Aba, activities are geared towards

programmes production and transmission activities. These are the major plank upon

which the services of a television station rest. Activity-Based Costing systems have

activities as the fundamental cost objects. Marx (2009) remarks that “ABC systems

also assume that activities cause costs and that cost objects create the demand

activities”. The authority applies the programmes production-based costing to

absorb the cost of transmission as production overhead. The indirect cost of

programmes production and transmission of such programmes produced is taken to

arrive at the cost of producing the programmes. This helps in the fixation of rates per

hour, half hour, one minute or in seconds.

Rate fixing in television is equivalent to price calculation in firms that turn out products. As a

government’s not-for-profit agency, activity-based costing is most suited for the service

providing operations of the Nigerian Television Authority. Saldarini (2000) argues that ABC

helps government agencies to make better spending decisions.

4. Break-even analysis: Break-even analysis is defined as “the point at which an

investment will start generating a positive return or the point at which total costs =

total revenue” (Wittwer, 2003). Break-even is where gross margin is sufficient to

cover fixed costs. More specifically, break-even analysis is a tool in analyzing new

services as well as existing services and also defined as: Net revenue = Fixed costs +

Total variable costs. This is the reason the break-even analysis is not undertaken in

NTA. NTA generates revenue for operation and not for profit. NTA still transmits

even if profit has not been made or it has incurred losses.

CHAPTER FOUR

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION/STRATEGY

The Nigerian Television Authority is a public broadcasting television organization charged with the

responsibility of providing social service to the people of Nigeria, is a parastatal (agency) of the

government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of

Information. Among the objectives of NTA is to “serve as a means of bringing news and information

to as many Nigerians as it can physically reach ... promote social values and norms, civic and social

responsibilities, promote physical, mental and social well-being of the people and encourage the

development of human values and respect for the dignity of man” (NTA Handbook). The cardinal

point of NTA’s programming is its public service nature.

This according to NTA’s handbook (1981) informs the Authority’s financial management policy. From

the time of establishment in 1976 and the extant Decree 24 backing the Authority, the Federal

Government had been funding NTA’s recurrent and capital expenditures. Section 31 of Decree 24

provides that “The Authority (NTA) shall prepare and submit to the Federal Executive Council

through the Ministry of information not later than 30th June in each financial year a report on its

activities which shall include a copy of the audited accounts of the Authority for that year and the

auditor’s report thereon” (Decree 24 Sec. 31).

1. Finance Directorate

The Authority therefore established a Finance Directorate to handle its corporate financial

management including budgeting and funding. The Directorate created five main sections for

effective and transparent management. The sections are:

- Salaries and Wages

- Cash Office

- Budgeting and Budgetary Control

- Final Accounts, Reconciliation and Accounts Receivable and Payable

- Foreign Exchange and Capital Project Monitoring

All policies enunciated by the Board of Directors apply in each of the 94 stations across the country.

The financial strategy of NTA includes among others to:

- Ensure that programmes are produced and expenditure made in compliance with applicable

laws and regulations;

- Ensure that the Authority’s assets are safely kept and disposed, liabilities are truly incurred

and expenditure made in the interest of the Authority;

- Ensure that all revenues and receipts are collected and properly accounted;

- Effective budgetary and stock control by means of appropriate analysis to minimise cost and

evaluate performance;

- Give intelligent and timely reports to management, the board, government and any other

interested parties;

- Prepare statutory accounts and reports with supporting schedules

In order for the realization of the plans, there is in NTA Aba, a financial management information

system which does the following:

- Preparation of annual budget for approval by management;

- Budgetary control to ensure that no budget vote head is overspent without the approval of

the Director-General;

- Prepare monthly budget and budgetary control reports showing monthly balances and

cumulative expenditure and variances;

- Consolidation of monthly expenditure report for management information;

- Preparation of cash flow statements;

- Preparation of financial analysis for management information.

These plans were drawn in 1991 and to date there is no significant review as every of them is still in

operation. NTA Aba financial management strategies are tailored towards running expenses

according to the station’s financial resources. As a partially commercialized agency which was

mandated to generate revenue to cover its running costs, the station expends its funds on

discretionary items.

2. Capital Budgeting

Capital budgeting is done only at the NTA headquarters level where the Federal Government

finances specific projects while those not financed by the Federal Government are funded from the

Authority’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR from commercial revenue. At NTA Aba, budgeting is

done for tools of the trade that will constantly ensure that the station’s transmission continues

unaffected. Such tools include engineering spare parts for the transmitter, cameras, post production

facilities, studio equipment, vehicles as well as production and other operational costs.

The financial management system of NTA Aba is transparent, judging from the reports of both the

internal and external auditors which show at a glance that the books are balanced and that there is

proper financial discipline. One can surmise that the financial management system is successful.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

Transparency can be said to be a scarce item in many governmental agencies in Nigeria. The same

challenge is rocking even corporate governance as can be gleaned from reports of financial scandals

in many firms globally despite the presence of the rules-based and principles-based financial

reporting standards. Adeyemo (2012) remarks that “Nigeria sits atop a list of African countries which

have suffered a massive outflow of illicit funds in Africa between 1970 and 2008”, a claim that

cannot be faulted in the light of on-going further disclosures of financial fraud. Low, et al (2008)

blames such crisis in corporate confidence on “lapses in personal and professional integrity, and

their subsequent effect on accounting firms and their corporate clients”.

This study of NTA’s strategy for transparent financial administration with focus on NTA Aba proves

interesting, reassuring and puzzling. It is reassuring that in an environment where government

agencies are widely alleged to commit financial fraud, there is an agency like the Nigerian Television

Authority that set for itself, a strategy to be transparent.

The study is an appraisal of auditing as a part of internal control system in the Nigerian Television

Authority Aba. The management established a firm structure for internal financial control. It is

observed the Internal Auditor enjoys complete independence and the Director of Audit at the NTA

headquarters as well as external auditors attest to this fact. The General Manager and management

of NTA Aba rely on and make effective use of the financial statements and act on any form of advice

from the Chief Accountant.

One of the effective control measures is the fact that there is no record of unretired advance. The

management drummed it into every staff that without retiring an earlier advance, the amount

advanced is taken off the staff’s personal emolument. Secondly, retired advances are verified before

approval. There is a purchasing task team set up to ensure that all purchases go through due process

by sampling market prices of items to be purchased before the internal audit recommends to

management for approval, among other measures. The transmission log for adverts, transmission

logbook itself and every source of revenue inflow is checked every day. The Chief Accountant

monitors what officers in all the sections do every day to ensure that there is no leakage.

The most interesting aspect of the finding is that NTA is not operating for profit as the law

establishing the Authority empowers it to provide social service to the people as part of

government’s social responsibility. In this regard Atrill & McLaney (2011) are of the view that even

such organizations that are not-for-profit need to “produce accounting information for the

stakeholders (government in the case of NTA) to check that the wealth of the organization is being

properly controlled and used in a way that is consistent with its objectives”. However, since 1992

when the Authority was partially commercialized and directed to generate revenue to finance its

operations, NTA management set for itself annual revenue generation target and shares the target

among the 94 stations. At the end of 2011 for example, NTA Aba met its target of generating the

sum of N130million.

RECOMMENDATIONS

NTA Aba is one of the 94 stations in the country. The social service focus of its operations based on

its ownership by the Federal Government appears to be holding the organization down from

extending its revenue generating tentacles to take on programmes outside those enshrined in the

statutes by the owner. For NTA Aba to generate N130million in one year is an indication that it can

be self-sustaining and be independent of government. After all, the workers’ wage for the year is

about N50million and other running costs amount to less than N12million.

It is widely stated in the sports circle that it is not right to change a winning team. In that light, it is

recommended that the internal control measures in NTA Aba should be maintained and also

replicated in other agencies of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to check the large

scale fraud in financial management.

Appendixes

1. NTA Organizational structure

2. Transmission Schedule

3. Financial Directorate’s organizational structure

4. Specimen of cash advance form

5. Spot announcement schedule

6. Internal Audit structure

7. Cashflow statement of NTA Aba

8. December 2011 Income Statement of NTA Aba

9. General Accounting statement of NTA Aba

10. Management financial information of NTA Aba

11. Weekly Cashflow statement of NTA Aba

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Available from: http://www.govexec.com/federal-news/2000/2/scholars-tout-benefits-of-activity

[Accessed: 19 June 2012]

Executive Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of internal control measures in

financial management strategy in the Nigerian Television Authority, a public sector agency

owned by the Nigerian Federal Government. This is against the background of the claim in

the Nigerian media that all government agencies cook up figures and are fraudulent. Is it

possible for an agency of government in such a society to be transparent in financial

management?

This study shows that the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA has maintained financial

transparency through effective management of internal control system and it is managing

its operations without government subvention, a situation that is not common among other

agencies of government.