Procurement physiognomies and creative accounting in Nigerian listed health care firms

1. Introduction

Over decades, creative accounting (CA) is being used to conceal the truth about the actual financial information of organizations by showing alternate truth via systematic manipulations. These fabrications are sometimes being committed through procurement activities. Procurement management (PM) has developed as vital method for businesses pursuing to become competitive in the future. Procurement involves the entire procedure of obtaining services and/or property. It commences when a firm has acknowledged a need and decided on its procurement necessity. Procurement lingers through the procedures of assessment of risk, looking for and appraising alternate solutions, contract award, delivery of and imbursement for the services and/or goods and anywhere appropriate, the continuing managing of contract and deliberation on options connected to the contract (Waters et al., 2004). Procurement also spreads to the final discarding of Good at the termination of its life span (Waters et al., 2004). Moreover, it is even extended to cover assets under or to be leased as provided by the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard 16 (IFRS 16) commencing from January 1, 2019.

In health-care sector, procurement is a vital component of well-organized drug-management and supply and is serious for entire points of medical care firms or establishments. An operative procurement procedure guarantees the readiness of the needed drugs in the appropriate amounts, obtainable at the precise period, for the appropriate patient and at realistic amounts and at familiar values of quality (WHO, 2007). In addition, the elementary ethics of upright procurement practice comprise accountability, where operative mechanisms oblige to be intact to empower procuring organizations spend the limited funds prudently, knowing obviously that they are answerable and responsible for any unethical activities to the shareholders. It is expected to be done under competing supply that needs the procurement be executed by competition except there are undoubted motives for single sourcing and constancy which stresses the equal dealing with entire bidders regardless of ethnicity, race, relation attachment or regionalism (Abdulkadir, 2019).

Among the prime rules of procurement is, at least, it is significant to reason in relations to the full cost of possession. This comprises not only the acquisition value but including resources and period which are consumed in the chase of the possession. By understanding the phases contained in procurement, it is probable to get an improved understanding of the actual charge involved with getting any service or property (Bailey et al., 2004). Numerous public procurement (PP) events experience inattention, meager co-ordination, deficiency in direction, absence of transparency and open competition, divergent stages of corruption and most prominently not possessing a cadre of skilled and competent procurement experts, that are capable to conduct and accomplish the procurements in specialized, cost-effective and timely manner. Strict and bureaucratic structures of procurement back by intolerable contract interruptions, possibility of manipulation of contract awards, amplified costs and absence of reasonable competition, altogether of which generate the perception in the populace that communal spending is small, unproductive, luxurious and frequently corrupt (Shehu, 2020). A manager, who practices post-conservative logic when determining on CA is anticipated to study the stakes and rights of the statements’ users, above the lawful necessities, thus, tackling the responsibility of the wellbeing of entire individuals and for the defense of all rights (Ali and Ibrahim, 2019).

Procurement physiognomies have been viewed as procurement attributes or qualities that contribute to efficient procurement operations, supply chain (SC) performance and assist in curtailing irregularities in procurement process. These attributes range from procurement planning, procedures, legislations and standards, outsourcing, staff competency, audit quality and automation (Kavacs, 2004). Others include but not limited to SC finance, procurement resource allocation, procurement performance, supplier relationship management, inventory management to mention but a few. This study, therefore, concentrates on procurement planning, e-procurement, procurement regulatory compliance (PRC), outsourcing, procurement staff competency (PSC) and strategic supplier partnership (SSP) because they are attributes that can easily be explored to engage in corruption and thereby use CA to cover it. Thus, examining whether good procurement practices checkmate the creative or unethical accounting by management when preparing financial statements of firms in the Nigerian health sector. The CA can be done through computation of certain key ratios, stock misstatement as it contains a substantial percentage of organization’s properties and has diverse recognized inventory valuation approaches or/and management exploiting gaps in accounting standards to deceptively depict a favorable performance of the company (Shehu, 2020).

In view of the preceding discussion, firms may have the tendency of exploring many loopholes in the procurement practices and laws to manage earnings especially during pandemics and other unanticipated natural phenomena. Therefore, covid-19 pandemic has really affected many economic, social and environmental activities for individuals, corporate bodies and society at large and this led to poor performances in many business activities due to restrictions imposed by governments and regulatory authorities. The pandemic caught numerous firms unaware and unprepared. It serves as a means which the management of some corporate bodies explored to commit their unscrupulous activities of earnings manipulation which might likely be covered through CA (Abbas and Shehu, 2022a, 2022b). Lockdowns have been witnessed across the globe which had negatively influenced SCs. Several firms were unable to produce to full capacity due to shortages in their raw material inventories and semi-finished inventory. This could be attributed to poor procurement planning, lack of collaborative supplier partnership and incompetent procurement manpower.

Moreover, the management of some firms in Nigeria especially the health-care corporate bodies could see the covid-19 pandemic as an avenue to unleash their corruptive activities and cover them using CA methods. This is because the society needed much health-care services and the services in place were very limited since the health-care facilities have been overwhelmed (Abbas, 2021). It is worth noting that for several years, individuals and companies use procurement as a corridor for channeling irregularities and misstatements in the accounts of their businesses and cover it using CA, and as such the pandemic might be used to cover poor performance since lockdowns were imposed in numerous countries. In addition, due to the high rate of demand, they may use that to satisfy their interest of manipulating accounts.

The researchers made tremendous efforts to search for literature that addressed the central issue of this study. However, it was discovered that, the studies were lacking and most of the literature reviewed (such as Jiang, 2020; Lanier et al., 2019; Sedyaningrum et al., 2019; Abbey and Otieno, 2019; Skoda and Vyklyuk, 2018; Abdul-Rahman et al., 2018; Marques and Pinto, 2018) did not examine the effect of procurement physiognomies on CA. Besides, similar study is lacking in Nigeria and the periods covered by the studies were not extended to 2020. In terms of approach, the studies used qualitative approach, but this research filled the gap by examining the variables quantitatively.

The core aim of this article was to investigate the influence of procurement physiognomies on CA of Nigerian-listed health-care firms. Accordingly, the detailed objectives of the paper are to: evaluate the impact of procurement planning on CA in the Nigerian-listed health-care firms; assess the influence of electronic procurement on CA of Nigerian quoted health-care firms; to ascertain the extent to which PRC affects CA in the Nigerian-listed health-care firms; to examine the influence of outsourcing on CA in the Nigerian-listed health-care firms; to determine the impact of PSC on CA in the Nigerian-listed health-care firms; explore the influence of SSP on CA of registered quoted health-care firms in Nigeria. Practically, the achievement of these objectives would assist in curtailing corruption in the health-care firms in Nigeria right from procurement planning to supplier collaborations and service delivery. Theoretically, its achievement would help in enriching literature in SC.

This article is anticipated to immeasurably add value to the prevailing literature. Despite having innumerable research done on procurement process and firm performance by countless scholars, none among the research (such as Eliah and Issa, 2020; Adeniyi et al., 2020; Jiang, 2020; Lanier et al., 2019; Sedyaningrum et al., 2019; Abbey and Otieno, 2019; Skoda and Vyklyuk, 2018; Abdul-Rahman et al., 2018; Marques and Pinto, 2018; Agburu et al., 2017; Osebhawe, 2017; and Goel, 2014) have precisely and empirically investigated the influence of procurement physiognomies on CA in the Nigerian-listed health-care firms. This has formed a substantial knowledge gap and consequently forms the foundation for this research. The study will be significant to researchers, regulatory bodies such as NAFDAC and SON, health-care companies, policy makers and many other stakeholders.

2. Literature review

In this section, related recent literature in respect of all the variables of the study were appraised and theoretical framework for the article will also be framed and justified. It is worth noting that scanty literature exists on the relationship between the individual procurement physiognomies and CA. Therefore, this study reviewed empirical literature categorically.

CA has been defined as a pretend through which determined intrusion was completed in stated numbers to get the preordained outcomes (Skoda and Vyklyuk, 2018; Abbas and Shehu, 2022a, 2022b). This study defined CA as an act of concealing true performance or information by a firm or its agent to deceive stakeholders or achieve a particular goal. Procurement is the procedure involved in gaining a commodity or services (Adeniyi et al., 2020). Smith et al. (2004) see procurement as procedure entailed within purchase of services or commodities at the finest likely full cost of acquisition in correct number and quality and within appropriate advantage or utilization of consumer through agreement. Electronic procurement is utilization of ICTs within PP. Electronic procurement may rise openness, enable contact to public tenders, lessen straight dealings amid procurement representatives and firms and permit flexible discovery of anomalies and corruption (OECD, 2016). Outsourcing is the shifting of in-house offered events by delegating it out to outside parties (Agburu et al., 2017). This study defined outsourcing as an act of delegating the procurement of Goods and services of a firm to an external party. Competency is seen as an ability, capability or a fundamental feature of a person that is casually connected to active or greater performance. It denotes performance delivery, applied knowledge and skills and the conduct mandatory to get activities completed very well (Armstrong and Baron, 1995).

The Figure A1 shows the direct relationship between procurement planning, electronic procurement, procurement legislation compliance (PLC), outsourcing, PSC, SSP and CA. The link between the explained variable and the explanatory variables is that, it is expected that the procurement physiognomies will greatly help in curbing bad CA.

Empirically, the study examines the effect of procurement planning, electronic procurement, PLC, outsourcing, PSC, SSP on CA of listed Nigerian health-care entities.

3. Methodology

This research is steered around the horizon of quantifiable approach with a logical examination paradigm of positivism that perceives realism via the appreciations of the scholar. Through this, positivists normally engage the process of the physical science that was deep-rooted on hypothetico-deductive method and empirical epistemology to reach an effective inference around the phenomenon under consideration. However, this study was correlational research that links procurement physiognomies and discretionary accruals (DACC). The study used all the 10 health-care corporations publicly registered on Stock Exchange of Nigeria (NSE) at the year ended December 31, 2020 as its population. Annual reports and accounts, questionnaire and e-mails (10 respondents were involved in the administration of the Questionnaires and e-mails across the firms) were used to collect and extract data in connection with the variables of the article within a period of five years (2016–2020) and the data were analyzed using longitudinal balanced panel multiple linear regression (two-stage least square) as the method of analyzing data for this study. The reason for this method is it possessed the capacity to examine the arithmetical connection among two or more variables and facilitates the estimate of the anticipated result. Moreover, it is a technique that can be used to compute residuals of the CA. All ethical issues have been properly addressed and confidential information has been kept as secret.

The model of Kim et al. (2012) was adopted in this study to extract the residuals of the DACC which indicate the level of CA in the firms. The model was chosen because it was discovered to have higher explanatory power than their first model and is one of the accrual models with few impregnable criticisms (Shehu, 2020). The model without and with modifications are presented as follows:

Where:

TA = total accruals;

T = total asset;a = constant;

β₁ − β₄= parameters;t − 1 = previous year (lag 1);

ΔREV denotes variation in revenue;

Δ REC denotes variation in receivables;

PPE symbolizes plant, property and equipment;

INTG signifies intangible assets;t means time;i symbolizes firm; and

ε denotes residual.

The below model will examine hypotheses of the article as shown underneath:

Where:

DACC = discretionary accruals;

α = intercept;

β₁ − β₅ denotes beta parameters;i t means firm across time;

PP = procurement planning;

EP = electronic procurement;

PLC = procurement legislation compliance;

OSG = outsourcing;

PSC = procurement staff competency;

SSP = strategic supplier relationship; and

ε = error term.

From Table 1, the residuals of the absolute figures of modified Kim et al. (2012) were obtained to measure DACC. For PP, proportion of the five steps of procurement planning followed was taken over the total five steps which include: evaluate/itemize the wants or requirements; determine the amounts and projected prices; identify when the supplies may be required for usage; determine the inter-associations among or between the needs; and merge alike needs (Table 1). EP was dichotomized where if a firm engages in e-purchase, a value of 1 was given otherwise 0 (Table 1). PLC has been measured as proportion of compliance with the three acceptable procurement procedure principles for selection process and these procedure principles comprise of: first, the procedure for choosing the concessioner has established adequate justice, transparency and chance for competition; second, the procedure remained free of deception, exploitation and further forbidden practices in submission with entirely relevant acts and regulations; and third, the result in terms of the concession treaty itself is just and rational beneath the precise situations of the project in terms of cost, quality and hazard distribution in relation to marketplace practice or can be re-balanced or re-negotiated as deem right (Table 1).

For OSG, if a firm outsourced its procurement to a third-party, a value of 1 was given but if it procures goods or services itself, then a value of 0 is given (Table 1). With regards to PSC, dichotomy was used where the presence of head of procurement department with professional membership of a recognized body attracts a value of 1 otherwise 0 (Table 1). Lastly, SSP was also measured using dichotomy where if supplier has been maintained for five years and above, a value of 1 was given otherwise 0 (Table 1).

4. Finding and discussion

Segment four handles the presentation of descriptive statistical (STD deviation, mean, VAR, maximum, minimum, skewness) results, correlation matrix and regression results. Analysis, interpretation and discussion of findings are also handled under this section.

From Table 2, the mean and standard deviation values of DACC are 0.19 and 0.09, respectively, it has a variance value of 0.01. Its maximum and minimum numbers stood at 0.40 and 0.00 correspondingly. The skewness estimate of −0.55 which is closed to 0 and 1 and kurtosis value of 3.15 which is closed to 0 and 3 indicated that the data for the variable was normally distributed. The average, STD deviation and variance figures of the variable imply that deviation among the health-care firms is lower since value of STD deviation is lower than mean. Procurement planning possessed average figure of 0.90, STD dev. value of 0.13 and variance estimate as 0.02. Minimum, maximum, skewness and kurtosis values of the variable are 0.6, 1, −0.84 and 2.65, respectively. Based on the statistics, a lower deviation exists among firms in terms of procurement planning and also the skewness and kurtosis values signified that the data for the variable was normally spread. E-procurement has average, STD deviation, variance, maximum and minimum figures of 0.72, 0.45, 0.21, 1 and 0, respectively. It signifies that, there is a lower deviation among the health-care companies in terms of e-procurement. The minimum and maximum values imply that, some companies are involved in e-purchase while some are not carrying out e-purchase. The skewness and kurtosis values of −0.98 and 1.96, respectively, show data of the variable was normally dispersed.

Descriptive statistics Table 2 displays PLC has an average, STD deviation, VAR, maximum, minimum, skewness and kurtosis values of 0.97, 0.10, 0.01, 1, 0.67, −2.67 and 8.11, respectively. The statistics implied that the deviation among the firms is very low in terms of PLC. Also, the data was normally distributed. Outsourcing possessed average figure of 0.84 and a STD deviation and variance values of 0.37 and 0.13, respectively, which signify that the deviation among the firms is low in respect of outsourcing. The variable has lowest number of 0 and highest figure of 1 which indicates some firms have outsource their procurement services while some have procurement department within their firms. The skewness and kurtosis values of −1.85 and 4.44, respectively, indicate that the data was normally spread. PSC possessed an average number of 0.68, STD deviation and variance values of 0.47 and 0.22, respectively, which indicates that PSC has a lower deviation among the firms. The smallest and maximum number of PSC stand as 0 and 1 correspondingly which signifies that some firms’ heads of procurement are not members of procurement professional bodies while some have professional bodies’ members as their heads of procurement. Based on the skewness and kurtosis values of −0.77 and 1.60, respectively, the was normally distributed. SSP has a mean value of 0.46 which indicates that on average 46% of the suppliers of the firms are maintained for 5 years and beyond. The standard deviation and variance values of 0.50 and 0.25, respectively, imply that a higher deviation exists among the firms in terms of procurement SSP for the reason that the STD deviation is bigger than the average estimate. Lowest and maximum values of 0 and 1 individually indicate some firms did not maintain their suppliers for more than five years while some maintained for five years and above and this is in agreement with the outcome of Adeniyi et al. (2020). The skewness and kurtosis values of 0.16 and 1.03 signifies that the data was normally distributed.

From Table 3, discretionary accrual has a negative significant relation with procurement planning while from another side it has negative and insignificant connection with electronic procurement, PLC and PSC. The association between DACC and outsourcing is positive and significant while its relationship with SSP is positive and insignificant.

From Table 3, procurement planning has a negative and insignificant association with electronic procurement, PLC, PSC and SSP while its relationship with outsourcing is negative and significant. Electronic procurement has a positive insignificant relationship with PLC and SSP while its relationship with PSC is significantly positive. On a different angle, the variable possessed substantial negative relationship with outsourcing. PLC has a negative insignificant relationship with outsourcing while its relationship with PSC and SSP is positively insignificant. Outsourcing and PSC has a significant negative association while OSG and SSP has an insignificant negative relationship. PSC is insignificantly related with SSP negatively and this is contrary to reality.

The regression results Table 4 displays the degree of impact between the explanatory and explained variables, and the study’s hypotheses were tested at either 1%, 5% or 10% level of significance portraying 90%–99% level of confidence.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

This paper examined the consequence of procurement physiognomies on CA of quoted Nigerian health-care corporations. Based on discoveries of the research, it was obviously evident that procurement planning, electronic procurement, PLC, outsourcing, PSC and SSP play a very important role on CA. Therefore, effective procurement planning and compliance to procurement legal framework contribute immensely to curbing CA. Electronic procurement could serve as a monitoring mechanism for reducing the level of procurement irregularities in the firms because it promotes transparency and accountability. Professional competent procurement staff have the ability and tendency of identifying fraudulent activities in the procurement process and with this, the level of CA in the health-care firms could be greatly reduced but adequate control needs to be exercise on them to ensure they do not use their expertise to commit frauds. Moreover, the procurement of goods, services and works by the firms could greatly contribute to dealing away with frauds and other forms of regularities in their procurement processes.

This study contributes to existing literature as studies on procurement characteristics and CA are generally lacking. The study contributes to exploring the area of CA, which is core to accountants, but a lot of irregularities are being committed under the umbrella of procurement and studies in the field of procurement and SC management tends to neglect this unintentionally or intentionally due to the technicalities involve. Therefore, this study contributes to serving as a stimulant to subsequent research in this area.

Based on the outcomes and conclusions drawn out of the results, the following improvements are recommended:

The management of listed Nigerian health-care corporations ought to ensure that all the basic steps involved in procurement planning are properly followed to ensure seamless procurement activities within the health-care sector; the health-care firms’ managers should try as much as possible to deploy e-procurement as it greatly helps in curbing CA and promoting accountability and transparency; the management of the firms should ensure total compliance with procurement procedures and other procurement legislation as it will substantially contributes to mitigating manipulative accounting practices.

The health-care firms’ management should be discouraged from outsourcing their procurement activities because it rises the level of unethical accounting being carried out in the firms; the management should deploy adequate monitoring mechanisms to ensure that professional heads of procurement department are sufficiently monitored to prevent committing unethical accounting practice due to their expertise. The management should checkmate their activities on regular basis; the management of the health-care firms should formulate policies that would make it compulsory for them not to maintain a supplier for a very long period especially beyond five years. The maintenance of a supplier for long period of time leads to too much closeness and the tendency for connivance to commit fraud.

Further studies could put emphasis on how technological innovations, firms’ internal policies and professional code of conducts contribute to curbing irregularities in the procurement process of health-care sector and other sectors of the Nigerian economy. Also, studies on the effect of procurement process audit on CA of firms should be encouraged as the audit may be used as an umbrella to hide irregularities through connivance with the auditors.