The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has released the results of its Accountability Index (AI) for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of October 2023. The AI is a rating system that measures the extent to which public sector entities comply with audit rules and standards, as well as the quality and timeliness of their financial reporting.
According to the ICAN, the AI is designed to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance in the public sector, as well as to encourage healthy competition among the states and the FCT. The AI uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest level of compliance and 100 represents the highest level of compliance.
The AI results show that three states, namely Lagos, Osun, and Ekiti, earned the Excellent rating, with scores of 94.6, 91.8, and 90.2 respectively. These states demonstrated a high level of adherence to audit rules and standards, and produced timely and reliable financial statements.
On the other hand, nine states scored Good, with scores ranging from 80 to 89.9. These states are Ogun, Oyo, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, and Kwara. These states also showed a commendable level of compliance with audit rules and standards, and delivered quality and timely financial reporting.
The majority of the states, 21 in total, scored Fair, with scores ranging from 60 to 79.9. These states are Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara. These states exhibited a moderate level of compliance with audit rules and standards, and produced satisfactory financial statements.
The remaining three states, namely Kogi, Yobe, and FCT, scored Poor, with scores below 60. These states demonstrated a low level of compliance with audit rules and standards, and produced poor and delayed financial statements.
The ICAN stated that the AI results are based on the analysis of the audited financial statements of the states and the FCT for the year ended December 31, 2022, as well as the audit reports of the Auditor-General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of each state. The ICAN also stated that the AI results are not influenced by any political, economic, or social factors, and are solely based on the professional judgment of the ICAN members who conducted the assessment.
The ICAN expressed its hope that the AI results will serve as a useful tool for the public, the media, the civil society, and the government to monitor and evaluate the performance of the states and the FCT in terms of financial management and accountability. The ICAN also urged the states and the FCT to improve their compliance with audit rules and standards, and to enhance the quality and timeliness of their financial reporting.