CHAPTER ONE

1.0            INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Days are when most accounting operations and decisions that have to be made on or from them are on first hand basis. This is because accounting operators and decision makers are in close contact with such accounting operations and as such, collected, analysed and interpreted data from such operations for decision making.

Today, as company and educational operations expand in size and complexity, company executives grow further removed from first hand contact with business scenes. They are to rely increasingly on second hand information about what is happening at the various stages of business operations2, vis-à-vis research and development, production, marketing and consumption of goods and services. Since decisions that have to be made by executives are of profound consequences and have to be based on highly fragmented and typically tenuous information, then it is of great importance that such second-hand information is from a very accurate and reliable