INTERNAL AUDIT AND QUALITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: THE CASE OF UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Many corporate failures have occurred over the years as a result of poor financial reporting practices that have eluded investors and other consumers of financial data. The research used the University for Development Studies (UDS) as a case study. The study focused on three main goals: identifying emerging determinants of quality financial reporting, examining the efficacy and adequacy of UDS's internal control structure, and determining how much Internal Audit contributes to quality financial reporting. The research used a descriptive survey template and a sample size of 70 people who were chosen using purposive and stratified sampling techniques. To achieve objectives one and two, the analysis used binary regression, while to achieve objective three, the Best (2005) index was updated and used. Financial reporting accuracy, a computerized accounting system, and personnel competence were found to be determinants of quality financial reporting in the study. It was discovered that UDS' internal control system is ineffective since two of the five main components that make up an efficient internal control system, namely control environment and information and communication, are not properly implemented. The study found that UDS' internal audit reflects an average level of fraud prevention in terms of the robustness of auditing processes and fraud prevention indicators, with the remaining indicators indicating a high level of fraud prevention. Overall, UDS' internal auditing reveals a high degree of prevention. The University for Development Studies (UDS) should analyze, define, and enforce control setting, information, and communication components of the internal control system that are appropriate for their work processes, as well as enhance the existing components, according to the report. Keywords: Internal Audit, Financial Reporting, Public Sector, Ghana

Flipped Classroom and Academic Performance of Senior High School Students in Geometry

This study sought to determine how senior secondary school students' geometry performance is affected by the flipped classroom model.  To direct the investigation, two research hypotheses were developed. The research used a quasi-experimental approach. Students in senior secondary school two (SHS2) in the Sagnarigu Municipality of Ghana's Northern Region made up the study's population, which was split evenly between male and female students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, and geographic locations. 72 students from two senior high schools in the municipality were chosen at random to participate in the study. The study's tool was the Geometry Performance exam (GPT), which consisted of 20 standardized multiple-choice exam items modified from earlier mathematics problems administered by the West Africa Examination Council. The control groups were instructed using the conventional technique whereas the experimental groups were given instruction utilizing the flipped classroom model. The four-week experiment was conducted. A P ≤ 0.05 level of significance was considered for the t-test to assess the research hypotheses. The findings showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in terms of accomplishment scores. Regarding the gender issue, the results showed that the flipped classroom model is effective because there was no appreciable difference in the performance of the experimental group's male and female students. It is advised that math educators should use the flipped classroom approach for teaching geometry and other concepts in the subject that are thought to be challenging. Keywords: Flipped classroom, Academic Performance, Gender, Geometry, Senior High School Students. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-22-02 Publication date:August 31st 202

Cooperative Learning with Manipulatives and Students’ Performance in Mathematics Problem Solving

The use of manipulatives in teaching mathematics has been identified to have a significant improvement on students’ understanding of mathematical concepts as well as their interest in their studies and subsequently their performance. Studies have examined the impact of this method on students’ performance in mathematics in general little data is available on how cooperative learning with manipulatives learning affects learners’ performance in mathematics problem-solving skills. Hence this study was to assess the effect of cooperative learning (CPL) with manipulatives on students’ performance in mathematics problem-solving skills. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select eighty Junior High School students from a public school in Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District in the Central Region of Ghana. Mathematics Non-Routine Achievement Test (MNRAT) and an interview guide were used to gather primary data from the participants. Descriptive statistics and an independent t-test at P≤ 0.05 level of significance were used to analyzed the data gathered from the field. The findings of the study indicated that students taught cooperatively with or without manipulatives outperformed students taught utilizing the lecture technique with or without manipulatives and no discernible differences were found between males and females in their performance (with and without the use of manipulatives).  The study therefore recommends that, the use of cooperative teaching and learning strategies integrated with manipulatives should be encouraged and adopted in schools by educational bodies, mathematics educators and teachers through workshops, seminars, in-service training and conferences on the importance and how to employ cooperative teaching and learning strategies with manipulatives to enhance Junior High School learners’ social and interactive participation, critical thinking, logical reasoning, effective communication and problem-solving skills in mathematics Keywords: Cooperative teaching and learning strategy, manipulatives, lecture method, mathematics problem-solving skills, students’ performance in mathematics DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-19-01 Publication date:July 31st 202

School Physical Resources and Senior High School Students’ Mathematics Performance in Sagnarigu Municipality of Northern Region, Ghana.

While factors that affect students’ academic performance have been well investigated, the extent to which school physical resources determine students’ performance in Mathematics, to the best knowledge of the researchers, has received less academic attention within the Sagnarigu Municipality and hence the need to delve into the area to determine whether there is a relation between school physical resources and students’ academic performance in mathematics. The study adopted a quantitative approach with a survey design involving 372 students and teachers who were selected through Simple Random sampling technique to participate. Questionnaire was used to gather primary data which was complemented by extensive literature review. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data that was collected from the field. An Ordinary Least Square regression model was used to test the predictive power of school infrastructure, school facilities and teaching and learning materials over students’ performance in mathematics after a correlation statistical test indicated that there were multi-collinearity issues. The analysis revealed that students’ performance in mathematics was closely associated with school infrastructure, school facilities and teaching and learning materials. It was, therefore, recommended that stakeholders in education should ensure that Senior High Schools in Sagnarigu Municipal are given the needed infrastructure, facilities and instructional materials so as to improve instructional quality and raise students’ performance in Mathematics. Keywords: School Physical resources, Teaching and Learning Materials, Infrastructure, Facilities, Performance DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-30-10 Publication date:October 31st 202

Knowledge of pregnant women on the factors that influence anaemia in pregnancy in a rural farming district of the Western Region of Ghana

Background: The presence of anaemia in pregnancy is one of the serious public health concerns across the globe especially in developing countries like Ghana. This study assessed pregnant women's knowledge on factors influencing aneamia in pregnancy in a low-income district of Ghana.Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected using a pretested questionnaire. 112 pregnant women seeking antenatal care were recruited using systematic sampling technique in the Wassa East district of Ghana. Data were cleaned and entered into SPSS version 22 and analysed into descriptive statistics.Results: Majority of participants; 72.3% did not know the causes of anaemia in pregnancy. Pregnant women (27.7%) indicated nutritional deficiency as a common cause of anaemia; 18.7% of them could identify appropriately at least one sign of anaemia in pregnancy with 28% asserting that pregnancy-related anaemia can affect labour, despite 72% indicating that anaemia could cause maternal mortality. The reasons for irregular ANC attendance included; perceived non importance of ANC (18.8%), financial difficulties (17.9%), health facility inaccessibility (18.8%) and time constraints (44.5%). There was a strong association between knowledge level on the cause of anaemia in pregnancy and the educational level of pregnant women (p=0.005 chi square = 50.289).Conclusions: Lack of knowledge on the importance of antenatal care and financial constraints were among the reasons leading to a surge in anaemia amongst pregnant women in the district. Health providers should incorporate services which enable pregnant women to access valuable information on anaemia prevention in pregnancy

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

A Study in Evil: The Slave Trade in Africa

In this special issue on justice, ethics, and philosophy of religion, let us consider a historical case study. The trade of slaves across the Atlantic lasted 400 years and led to the forcible removal of about 12.5 million people from Africa, south of the Sahara. This paper examines the African slave trade in light of the notion that evil of whatever form is a menace to our very existence and a rupture of the very essence of hope. It will focus on the nature, development, and growth of the African/European Slave Trade, as it interrogates issues such as: if evil is coterminous with human cruelty, then the slave trade was the apogee of human evil and avarice; the notion of slavers saving the enslaved from themselves; and providing an avenue for conversion into Abrahamic religions. The essay will also be interested in how slavers—European and Africans alike—rationalized slavery and how the enslaved and onlookers responded to the spectacle of enslavement

The Growth of Islamic Learning in Northern Ghana and Its Interaction with Western Secular Education

No Abstract Available Africa Development Vol. XXX (1&2) 2005: 53-6

Contesting Islam: "Homegrown Wahhabism," Education and Muslim Identity in Northern Ghana, 1920--2005

283 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.The study argues that Wahhabism, the official version of Islam in Saudi Arabia, was and in many ways remains, a homegrown religious phenomenon that built primarily on preexisting tensions in the northern Ghanaian Muslim society and that Middle Eastern and North African contact through pilgrimage, but especially outreach programs and educational provision only provided the ideological justification, the grammar, for reinterpreting the "common good" and for contextualizing localized forms of Islam. The study concludes that the notion of a general Muslim threat supposedly spreading throughout the northern parts of West Africa, including northern Ghana based on the preponderance of the "returnee" ulama and their control over and improvement of the pedagogy of what has become the reformed makaranta is over generalized. For the "returnees," theirs is and continue to be the struggle for survival in the post colony, as they grapple with recognition, employment, and the reconfiguration of Muslim authority.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Pre-service knowledge, perception, and use of emergency contraception among future healthcare providers in northern Ghana

Abstract Background Emergency contraception, if used properly, can prevent up to over 95 % of unwanted and mistimed pregnancies. However, a number of obstacle including healthcare providers knowledge, perception, and attitude towards emergency contraception (EC) prevent women and adolescents from having access to EC. Methods This was a cross-sectional study among 191 female final year nursing and midwifery students of Tamale Nurses and Midwives Training College in the Northern Region of Ghana. Purposive sampling method was used to sample 100 students from the nursing programme and 91 from the midwifery programme. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were performed to determine factors associated with awareness about EC and use of EC. Results Over four-fifths, 166(86.91%), of the participants indicated they had heard about EC prior to the study. Majority (80.10%) of the participants correctly indicated the time within which to take emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs). More than half, 105(54.97%), of the participants did not know the appropriate time within which to use IUD as EC. Almost four-fifths, 74(38.74%), of the participants indicated it is morally wrong to use EC and more than half, (n = 104, 54.45%), of them said EC use promotes promiscuity. Only 49(25.65%) participants said they had ever used ECP. Of the number that indicated ever-using ECP, 36(73.47%) cited condom breakage or slippage as the reason for using the method. Conclusion Though there was a relatively high level of EC awareness and knowledge among the students, some students lacked detailed knowledge about the method, especially the use of IUD as EC. We found that it was easy to access EC in the study area but the use of EC was low among the students. Most of the students demonstrated a positive attitude towards EC, but many of them believed EC encourages promiscuous sexual behaviour and that it is morally wrong to use EC. The curriculum for nursing and midwifery education should provide opportunity for detailed information and practical knowledge on EC to demystify negative perceptions and attitudes of nursing and midwifery students towards EC and other forms of contraception and to improve their knowledge on EC