According to Johnson (1976), the management control concept which
imbibes the expenditure control are the same both in profit oriented and
non-profit oriented organisations, but the implication of these
concepts
differ in important respect. We will want to find out if
also the expenditure control methods are the same or differ in the two
hospitals under study, owning to the fact that one is profit oriented
and the other is non-profit oriented.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problems encountered by the Government and privately owned Hospitals in expenditure control are as follows:
ï‚·
The problem of daily control method and the vote card method. The
problem encountered is to know the effective method to use in the two
hospitals. Here, the problem encountered is to check whether the daily
control method will be efficient and effective in the Government owned
hospitals or whether the vote card method is the best.
ï‚· Another
problem encountered by the hospitals in expenditure control is the
problem of internal control. Internal control is the essential feature
of an organisation, be it profit making or non-profit making, and it is
expected to be well managed effectively and efficiently. Any problem or
limitation of the internal control will pose a problem to the
expenditure control of the organisation.
Therefore, the above
problems encountered by the two hospitals are the problems of
expenditure control methods encountered by the government and privately
owned hospitals by the government and privately owned hospitals that
attracted the attention of the researcher.
The problem definition in
this research work is to investigate and analyse the different ways and
methods by which expenditure is controlled in government owned hospitals
and privately owned hospitals so that they will not run into deficit
and liquidation. As a comparative study, two hospitals has been selected
for the study, they are: University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu
(UNTH) for government owned Hospitals, and Toronto Hospital and
Maternity Onitsha for privately owned hospitals.
In this research, we
study the different methods of expenditure control being adopted by
these hospitals and their practical application and their level of
effectiveness.
This study will form a basis for our analysis which will help to answer some research questions.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study is conducted to:
1. Ascertain the expenditure control method adopted by the government and privately owned hospitals.
2. Establish whether government and privately owned hospitals are operating the same of different system of accounting.
3.
Compare the expenditure method or model adopted by the privately owned
hospitals with that of the government owned hospital if there is a
difference.
4. Ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of these
expenditure control methods in the operation of the privately and
government owned hospitals.
5. Make recommendations based on the findings.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What expenditure control methods are adopted in the two hospitals?
2. Do privately owned hospitals and government owned hospitals operate the same method of expenditure control?
3. Are there any similarities and differences in their method and application?
4. How efficient and effective are they to their users?
