A STUDY OF HUMAN RESOURCES ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO SELECTED ORGANISATIONS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

A STUDY OF HUMAN RESOURCES ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO SELECTED ORGANISATIONS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Abstract:

The purpose of this research effort was to examine the relevance of human resources accounting information to some selected organisations in the private sector in Nigeria. It was expected that the study would provide some evidence as to whether organisations in this category utilise this information in their day-to-day business operations. The study seeks to fill the vacuum created by conventional accounting system in financial reporting due to failure to report on organisational human resources. Thus, the objectives of the study were: (1) to find out the relevance of information concerning human resources of an organisation in the private sector in financial terms, (2) to know the impact of reporting or not reporting human resources values to organisations in the private sector in Nigeria. (3) to know precisely the type of industry or companies in which human resources accounting information is more relevant and most useful. In order to accomplish this task a sample of 15 manufacturing and 15 service-related organisations each having more than 50 employees were drawn from private sector organisations. Also, out of these organisations people from the supervisory level upwards were randomly selected to fill the questionnaire. The research methodology involved two phases: a literature review phase ana a questionnaire phase of the study. That is to say, for the purpose of the research, the methodology involved collection of data both on secondary and primary basis. The secondary data collection involved an extensive search of relevant literature from textbooks, journal, articles, net*spapers, magazines, companies reports and other materials considered relevant for the research. The primary research too used in this study to collect the primary obtained through data was/a detailed questionnaire designed and administered based on the instruments gathered from the review of the existing literature. The basic findings or the research were: (1) It was found that organisations in the private sector are profit-oriented and,therefore, attach more relevance to any publicly mace available information that will help in attaining this objective. (2) That out of the resources of an organisation, human resources are the most important. (3) It was also found that human resources planning and development greatly helps management in the functional areas of planning, co-ordination, communications, decision-making and motivation. (4) Furthermore, it was discovered that human resources accounting information helps greatly in the implementation of good and effective manpower planning and development, especially when it comes to a matter of cost reduction and profit improvement programmes. (5) Also,it was discovered that human resources accounting information is very useful to private sector organisations in the determination of cost of capital; calculating meaningful ratios and in the determination ana management of working capital. (6.) Finally, it was evident that the respondents were more confident to say that human resources accounting information is more relevant and most useful in the service-related industries. Recommendations were, therefore, made that: (1) Since the capacity of an organisation to achieve its strategic objectives was influenced by human resources especially in the capacity to operate effectively, human resources planning and development should be the focal point in business necisions. (2) Organisations should concentrate on providing specific training to their employees, and that this policy should be backed by restriction of mobility and retention policy to discourage the trained employees from leaving the firm immediately after receiving their training. (3) Finally, it was recommended that, these research findings are not final, but rather should be viewed as a basis for further research to progress the subject further. This could be acbipved by joint effort from teachers, practitioners and students in accounting, finance and other related fields.

A STUDY OF HUMAN RESOURCES ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO SELECTED ORGANISATIONS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

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