Factors influencing quality of financial reporting in public sector entities in the ministry of environment and natural resources,Kenya

Abstract

This study examined the factors influencing quality of financial reporting in the public sector entities in Kenya. A key prerequisite for quality in financial reporting according to IPSASB is the adherence to the objective and qualitative characteristics of financial reporting information. This study aimed at investigating the factors that influence the quality of financial reporting in the public sector entities based on the following; internal control measures, adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards and existence of an audit committee in an entity. The study was conducted on five public entities in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya focusing on management staff as respondents and who also formed the unit of analysis. The study used primary data collected through questionnaire as the main data collection instrument. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics for the general information and further analysis was done using multiple regressions with the help of STATA Version 13 Software to determine the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The results were presented in form of tables, figures and text. The study established that factors like internal controls, existence of audit committee and IPSASs adoption play significant role in the quality of financial reporting in the public sector entities. In addition, the study observed that, individually, internal control had the highest influence, followed by audit committee, and lastly IPSAS adoption. The study concluded that the model was well suited to predict quality financial reporting and it is imperative that public sector entities strengthen the internal controls to enhance quality reporting which is a determinant of prudent utilization of public resources. The results concur with similar studies done on the variables such as (Ball and Plugrath, 2012; Opanyi, 2016 and Nkwagu, Uguru & Nkwede 2016).The study recommends that the government should ensure that public entities management are made to adhere to proper management and financial reporting of the entities.