INTRODUCTION
In public sector accounting, Resources Accounting (RA) is the application of accruals accounting for reporting on the expenditure of government and a framework for analyzing expenditure by departmental aim and objectives, relating these to outputs where possible. The public sector is more and more affected by significant reforms in the public accounting system in the international context. The aim of the public sector reforms is to overcome bureaucratic obstacles so that managers can use their limited resources more efficiently (Pina, V. and Torres, L., 2009). Public sector audit has experienced considerable expansion throughout the world. The reason for this is closely related to changes in the structure of government and concern for more accountable and transparent governance, which has resulted in a large increase in the number of accounts and sophistication of financial reporting. The expansion has brought with it an added demand for accountability (Dowdall, 2010).
Public sector accounting is quite distinct from commercial accounting in terms of objectives, sources of revenue and bases of recording accounts, responsibility and accountability among others. It is useful however, to distinguish between audit and other forms of regulation and inspection. Public audit applies to almost every public sector body and is relatively wide-ranging, from certifying the accounts to examinations of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The audit function and the form in which audit results are reported tend to reinforce the traditional line of public sector accountability to elected representatives rather than establish new forms of accountability. There is general awareness all over the world for the need to pay greater attention to the improvement of public sector management. The reason is obvious, government constitutes the largest single business entity and her pattern of expenditure through its various parastatals, agencies and commissions stimulate lot of economic activities. As a result of these Government huge involvements in economic activities, initiatives are being taken all over the world towards improvement of the standards of accounting and auditing departments in government (Angus and Mohammed, 2011).
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