International Journal of Innovative Finance and Economics Research 7(4):110-120, Oct.-Dec., 2019 © SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2019 www.seahipaj.org ISSN: 2360-896X Accounting Profession and Crime Control in Financial Institutions in Awka, Anambra State 1Okoye, Emma I; 2Adenyi Segun I. & 3Ikechukwu Osonwa 1Professor of Accounting, Accountancy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Phone No: +2348033837919 2Accountancy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria Phone: +2348099793830 3Accountancy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria [email protected], +2348038428246 ABSTRACT The study investigates the relationship of accounting profession and crime control in Anambra State. The specific objectives are: To determine the effect forensic accountant on internal control, to examine the effect of forensic accountant on fraud policy and to investigate the effect of forensic accountant on physical security control. Survey research design was adopted. The sample size for the study was 122 respondents and SPSS was used to analyze and test the relationship between variables. We recommended that there should be constant education of staff about fraud policy and the implication of break them and also, government should make forensic accounting more relevant by introducing the subject at the undergraduate level both private and public universities. Keywords: accounting profession, crime control, fraud, financial institutions INTRODUCTION Financial crimes in has made it difficult for Nigerian‟s to meet its welfare and national social responsibilities for its citizens. These evil have assumed alarming proportions and pervasive mismanagement of resources have become the order of the day in public sector (Okunbor & Obaretin, 2010). High level of financial crime and fraud has hindered tax collection, and has also discouraged foreign investment. There has been need for the services of professional accounting services to control crime in organization. Professional account has been using various efforts to reduce crime in organization. Measures like internal control, fraud policy and physical security control has been adopted to fight crime in organizations. The wide spread of crime in public and private sector have made traditional auditing and investigation inefficient and ineffective in detecting fraud. Oyejide (2008) opined that fraud is a subject that has received a lot of attention both globally and in Nigeria. IFAC (2011), describes a professional accountant as a person who has expertise in the field of accountancy, achieved through formal education and practical experience, and who: i) Demonstrates and maintains competence; ii) Complies with a code of ethics; iii) Is held to a high professional standard; and, iv) Is subject to enforcement by a professional accountancy organization or other regulatory mechanism. 110 Okoye et al...….. Int. J. Innovative Finance and Economics Res. 7(4):110-120, 2019 They also argued that there are many highly-skilled individuals who may be functioning in one or more roles that may commonly fit within the public‟s broad understanding of the term “professional accountant,” yet such individuals (e.g., accountants in business or providing accounting expertise within an organization) may not fall within the scope of the definition. For example, consider an individual who previously held a certification, license, or credential from a professional accountancy organization but is now working as an accountant for an entity that does not require such credentialing. Although the individual may have previously met the conditions indicated in the proposed definition and continues to work in the field of accountancy, the individual is no longer associated with an official professional accountancy organization and is not covered under any regulatory mechanism, and therefore is not a professional accountant under the proposed definition. Professional accountant could be financial accountant, cost accountant, management accountant to mention but a few. But an accountant that specializes in fraud related matters is called forensic accountant. Forensic accounting have been described by Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) as the use of professional accounting skills in matters involving potential or actual civil or criminal litigation, including, but not limited to, generally acceptable accounting and audit principles; the determination of lost profits, income, assets, or damages; evaluation of internal controls; fraud; and any other matter involving accounting expertise in the legal system. Forensic accounting also called investigative accounting involves the application of accounting concepts and auditing techniques in resolving legal matters. Presently, forensic accountants or investigators have been engaged in detecting frauds in different financial and economic crimes. Krstic (2009) suggest the forensic accountants are engaged by the management, owner or other users of financial statements to investigate and document financial frauds or inaccurate materially significant financial information in view of the alarming rate of financial fraud. For effective performance of forensic accounting duty (fraud detection and prevention), a solid knowledge and understanding of accounting and auditing, good communication ability and suitable information technology knowledge is needed. Forensic accounting is rapidly a growing field of accounting. (Okoye and Gbegi, 2013) agreed that “Forensic” means “suitable for use in a court of law”, and it is to that standard that Forensic Accountants generally work. Forensic Accounting is an investigative style of accounting used to determine whether an individual or an organization has engaged in any illegal financial activities. Although, forensic accounting has been in existence for several years, it has evolved over time to include several types of financial information scrutiny. Forensic accounting can, therefore, be seen as an aspect of accounting that is suitable for legal review and offering the highest level of assurance (Apostolou, Hassell & Webber, 2000). It is in this light; this paper analyzed accountants and crime control in manufacturing and financial organization Statement of problem Numerous research efforts has been made in examining how forensic accountants can control crime in both corporate and private organization, however, most of these research focuses on using internal control and fraud policy. However, there has not been adequate emphasis, especially survey evidence on how forensic accounting can help curtail financial crimes crime in an organization using these variables physical security control. This has been identified to help curb crime in organization. This paper has identified this as a gap. Objective of the study The aim of this study is establish the relationship between forensic accountant and crime control in organization in Awka, Anambra State. The specific objectives are: 1. To determine the effect forensic accountant on internal control 2. To examine the effect of forensic accountant on fraud policy 3. To investigate the effect of forensic accountant on physical security control. 111 Okoye et al...….. Int. J. Innovative Finance and Economics Res. 7(4):110-120, 2019 Scope of the study This study will take a critical look at professional accountants and their impact in controlling crime in firms. To this end, the content scope will be physical security control, internal control and fraud policy. This research work will examine the crime control activities in selected financial institution in Anambra State, south east, Nigeria for the period from 2013 to 2018. Limitation The research work concentrated only on financial institution in Awka, Anambra State. Also some respondents were also afraid of giving out information because in may affect their job insecurity. However, the information gathered from respondents were about eighty percent, where now generalized. LITERATURE REVIEW Conceptual frame work Forensic accounting services have not been so much in demand in the previous decades due to the relatively low level rate of fraud. But in growing spate of corporate scandals and collapse of corporate organizations (Izedonm & Ibadin 2012), instigated mainly by fraudulent activities of the management and people in position of managing and public funds have made the relevance of forensic accounting in building credibility and reliance on the operations more important. The importance of forensic accounting in cupping fraud is inevitable specifically in the Nigerian public sector where most management of the institutions are involved in one form of financial scandal or the other. In the late 1940s, forensic accounting had become popular during World War II, but major academic studies in the field were published in the 1980s (Rasey, 2009). Thus, a new profession emerged in the field of accounting in the 1980s with interest from western countries and especially in the USA. This new profession identifies fields comprising accounting, auditing and investigative skills (Ozkul and Pamuke, 2012). According to Singleton and Singleton (2010), forensic accounting dates back to the days of pharaoh in Egypt as his eyes and ears were people who watched over his inventories of grain, gold and other assets. Also they view forensic accounting to comprise fraud investigation, prevention of fraud and analysis of antifraud controls in addition to gathering nonfinancial information. However, forensic