Influence of Treasury Single Account (TSA) Policy Implementation on Promoting Financial Transparency and Accountability on The Administration of Public Universities in North Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy implementation on promoting financial transparency and accountability on the administration of public universities in North Eastern Nigeria. two specific objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a survey research design, and was carried out in North Eastern Nigeria. The population of the study comprised 547 Bursary staff of Federal Universities in North Eastern Nigeria. The sample size for the study comprised 231 Bursary staff obtained from the use of Taro Yamane formula for sample size determination. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was estimated using Cronbach Alpha statistic and an overall reliability coefficient of 0.84 was obtained. The data was analyzed using Means and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions. Chi-Square Statistic to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that Treasury Single Account stops public universities from remitting revenue at will to government treasuries and compels government agencies to spend within the approved budget provisions and this promotes transparency in the administration of public universities to a high extent. It further revealed that Treasury Single Account promotes efficient management of domestic borrowing at minimal and helps to establish an efficient disbursement mechanism for public funds and this promotes financial accountability in the administration of public universities to a high extent. Based on these findings, it was recommended that; Federal government should closely monitor the level of TSA implementation within her universities, as complete implementation of TSA would make all Federal government owned universities remit all revenue in its coffers to government treasuries and compels government agencies (universities) to spend within the approved budget provisions for enhanced financial transparency in the administration of public universities. Also, Federal government should ensure total compliance on the institutionalization of Treasury Single Account as it would reduce domestic borrowing to the barest minimal helping them to establish an efficient disbursement mechanism for public funds, thereby promoting financial accountability in the management of public universities.