CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Before the “Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)” can be clearly defined, one must have a better understanding of the situation into which it was introduced. At the conclusion of a Debate/Symposium on “Devaluation” held in 1982 at the Institute of International Affairs, the consensus emerged that the economic problem of Nigeria was structural.
The intention of SAP is to adjust the structure of the Nigerian economy, but what is the structure of the economy and why does it need adjustment? The relevant dictionary meaning of the word “structure” is “the arrangement or interrelation of all part of a whole”.
At the summary of overall economic level which the economist call “The macro level”, the structure f the economy is its composition as seen through the shares or proportion of the various component parts or economic aggregated, in the total sum of goods and services produced in a period usually a year.
Therefore, the structure of the economy is shown by the shares of the various economic sectors in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Just like any other theory, accountants have discovered that they need to make certain assumption before they can prepare financial statements. These assumptions, which underline the preparation of financial statements, are also known as principles, postulates, conventions, concepts, and standards etc. The originate from such concepts as entity, going-concern, periodicity realisation, matching, consistency and historical cost concept.
They have been described as the basic points of agreement upon which the preparation of financial statement are based. They act as filters in the process of preparing financial statement and therefore assist immensely in selecting data to be processed and also indicating the processing method and thereby affecting the final result.
Accounting Principles are usually rules and conventions, which have been adopted as a general guide to action by the accountancy profession. These principles are formulated in such a way that the practical details of accounting may differ greatly from one company to another. To ensure acceptance, an accounting principle must be useful in coping with a practical recording problem, it must be reasonably objective, that is, provide a similar answer in the hands of qualified practitioners, and it must be feasible, that is, it should not be expensive to apply.