CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS IN MULTINATIONAL ORGANISATIONS IN NIGERIA (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The birth of the Accounting system in the multinational organisations is an interesting one because it has been in existence since the beginning of overseas trade. The need for accounting information as an integral part of business dates back tens of thousands of years. Early Accounting methods include the use of tokens and symbols to represent goods shipped. Multinational organisations are viewed at that time as agents of civilization and played a pivotal role in the commercial and industrial development of Asia, South America and Africa. By the end of the 19th century, advances in communications had more closely linked world markets and multinational organisations which had retained their favourable image as instruments of improved global relations through commercial ties.
Finally, our current era is described as “information age” where the production and information’s delivery of services has become a widespread product and the demand of it continues to increase. Accounting information system plays a pivotal role in decision marker’s services; this is what made the use of computers as processors of information as indispensable in the world of Accounting.
It could be argued that the Accounting system is the oldest systems of information which is still considered to be the main source of economic information in the present day and in the future; because of the importance of financial information in the decision-making. The Accounting system has tended to be a system of information that does not stop at the limits of data and financial information, but also it includes data and descriptive and quantitative information which is useful in decision-making for users distinct with plurality and diversity.
Accounting systems provide additional information besides financial information. The group of Accounting programmes users include current and potential investors, lenders, suppliers, creditors, customers, government and the public, in addition to the administration which its responsibility is to prepare the Accounting programmes and then displaying it, that information must be capable of achieving the goal it has been prepared for.
Multinational organisations are business entities that operate in more than one country. Multinational organisations have been a source of controversy ever since the East India Company developed the British taste for tea and a Chinese taste for Opium (John 1998). A typical multinational organisation normally functions with a headquarters that is based in one country, while other facilities are based in locations in other countries. In some circles, a multinational corporation is referred to as a “Multinational Enterprise” (MNE) or a “Transnational Corporation” (TNC) (Tatum 2010).
