Dr. Otalor John Ikponwosa

MBBS (Sydney), FRACS (Paediatric Surgery)

Dr John Ikponwosa Otalor joined the Accounting Department of the University of Calabar in December, 2014 as a Lecturer II and has been involved in teaching and research. Prior to joining the academia, he worked briefly as an audit intern with Chris Awili & Co (Chartered Accountants, February 2012 to November, 2014. He also had a successful career in the financial services industry namely: a brief stint in the insurance sub-sector (Clerical Officer, NIBON Insurance Brokers, Benin City, March 1987 to December 1988), and a more than two decade experience in the banking sub-sector of the same industry {Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, December 1988 to February 2012: Business Development Manager (2003 – 2012); Operations Manager (2002 - 2003); Appraisal Officer (1999 – 2002); Supervisor (1994 – 1999); Clerical Officer (1988 – 1994)}. An offshoot of Alifekede Primary School, Agbor and Omumu Mixed Secondary Grammar School, Agbor, Delta State, he attended the prestigious University of Lagos for his undergraduate studies and the University of Benin, Benin City for his Master of Science degree in Accounting and Ph.D degree specializing in Budgeting. He is one of the winners of the 2016-2018 TETFUND Institution-Based (IBR) Research Grant (N 1,995,000 approved May 16, 2019). The paper he presented at the 4th Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) International Academic Conference on Accounting and Finance, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, April 18 – 20, 2018 with the Theme: Contemporary issues in accounting, finance and corporate governance was voted the 3rd Best Paper Presented. Dr. Otalor teaches Strategic Financial Management, Public Sector Accounting and Introduction to Financial Accounting at the undergraduate (400 & 200 levels) respectively at present. He has taught Research Methods in Accounting, Intermediate Financial Accounting, Advanced Financial Accounting, Business Statistics, Management Accounting, Taxation, International Accounting and Auditing & Forensic Accounting. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Accounting & Taxation Review: Official Journal of the International Accounting and Taxation Research Group, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. He has also reviewed articles for the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) Official Journal. Dr. Otalor has attended and presented scholarly papers at the following academic conferences: The 4th Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) International Academic Conference on Accounting and Finance, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, April 18 – 20, 2018. Theme: Contemporary issues in accounting, finance and corporate governance; the 8th International Conference of Accounting and Finance Research Association, held at University of Calabar, Cross-River State, November 4 – 6, 2018. Theme: Governance & National Development: The role of Accounting & Finance, and the 5th ICAN Annual International Academic Conference on Accounting and Finance, held at Kaduna State University, Kaduna, April 15 – 17, 2019. Theme: Contemporary issues in Business, Accounting and Fintech. His completed research projects are (1) Effect of depression on the economy on the performance of banks. A Project written in the Department of Accounting and submitted to the Department of Accounting in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Accounting of the University of Lagos. The goal of study was to ascertain if the depression in the economy has had any significant effect on the profits of bank. The result shows that depression in the economy has significant negative impact on the profit of banks; (2) Bridging the audit expectation gap: Challenges and implication on corporate financial reporting. A Project written in the Department of Accounting and submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Masters of Science in Accounting of the University of Benin. The study sought to know if the public is conversant with the legislative, regulatory and professional bodies pronouncement on the responsibility of auditors as well as whether the duties and responsibilities are such that the auditor should be reasonably expected to perform and whether the auditors are performing the duties and responsibilities efficiently and effectively. The result of the work shows that audit expectations gap has significant positive impact on the credibility of corporate financial reports. The higher the expectation gap, the higher the negative impact on corporate financial reporting [CRFINR], and (3) Determinants of Budgetary Slack in Nigeria. A Thesis written in the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Benin and submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D) in Accounting. The study is a quantitative research involving survey of managers and employees of Nigerian firms with the aim of reporting their intention to create budgetary slack. The findings revealed that attitude towards budgetary slack (ATTID), perceived behavioural control (PEBECON), and opportunistic behaviour (OPPORBEH) are statistically significant determinants of budgetary slack in Nigeria, while subjective norms (SUBJNORM) has no significant effect on budgetary slack creation in Nigeria Dr. Otalor is also an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and has over ten publications in both local and foreign Journals. He has co-authored several articles with Prof Chinwuba Okafor and Dr. Peter Oti. He is an erudite researcher with strong communication, analytical and multi-tasking skills. He is able to adapt to changing situations easily, highly efficient and extremely energetic, work under little or no direct supervision. A stickler for time and timelines, keeping an eye on quality, highly committed to excellence and watches over KPIs like a hawk without losing sight of details. A motivator and creative problem solver who works well with team and understands the importance of sharing knowledge with peers. .