Abstract
Globalisation, capital market crash and the Enron’scase led the accounting profession to
insist on the need for a single set of high quality reporting standards. International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were first adopted in 2005 by EU countries while
Nigeria agreed to adopt in 2012. The question is: How does IFRS adoption improve the value
relevance of accounting information? Several studies have explored the value relevance of
IFRS adoption;however, they are based on foreign countries while Nigerian researches do
not contain empirical evidence as they are mostly theoretical. This study therefore seeks to
investigate the impact of IFRS adoption on value relevance of financial information of listed
Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria.. The study used correlation research design
anddata on Earnings per Share (EPS), Change in Earnings per Share (CEPS), Book Value
per Share (BVPS)and share price (SP) were sourced from published annual reports of listed
banks and cashcraft asset management. Moreover, Edwards Bells and Olhson (1995) model
was adopted to conduct a pre (2006-2009) and post (2010-2013) IFRS analyses on seven (7)
listed banks. Using the Generalized Least Square (GLS) the study documented that: PreIFRS
financial information is value relevant; post IFRS financial information has very weak
value relevance and post IFRS financial information has no relative value relevance over
pre- IFRS financial information. The study therefore, recommends a need for strong
enforcement effort, rigorous IFRS training and good corporate governance.
M.Sc Project Topics in Accounting and Finance
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS (IFRS) ADOPTION AND VALUE RELEVANCE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF LISTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA
Department: Accounting and Finance (M.Sc)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the
study
The
primary function of accounting is the provision of information necessary for
evaluation of past business decision, which consists of current operating
profit and realizable cost saving (Edward & Bell, 1961). Financial
information is the output of accounting process and should be duly communicated
to users to enhance decision making. As such, Bello (2009), opined that
corporate organisations use accounting to communicate to all stakeholders about
their operating performance and position at a particular time period. However,
the role of accounting cannot be over emphasized as Psaroulis (2011) stated
that Accounting is a very important aspect in any business operation which
involves the measurement and provision of accurate financial information to
managers, investors, tax authorities, and other stakeholders to help them make
decisions about how they should allocate the resources of a company,
organization, or public agency. Investors are not in a position to directly
assess the performance of the company in which they intend to invest as they
usually depend on financial statements prepared by the management of the
company. Karunarathne & Rajapakse (2011) opined that rational investors use
financial reports and disclosures to assess the risk and the value of the firm.
Based on this Fisher and Jordan (2005), purported that an overwhelming weight
is placed by analyst and investors on information contained in the financial
statements of firms because of its vouchsafed as its forms and contents are
controlled under variety of rules, regulations and statutes.
There
are set of rules and regulations that guide the practice of accounting and
reporting in different countries leading Ikpefan & Akande (2012) to state
that accounting is business language while financial reporting is for
communicating and they are both regulated by Generally Accepted Accounting
Practices (GAAP) which are usually country based. The Nigerian GAAP like other
countries has a unique characteristic that has been a subject of argument which
is the historical cost accounting. In this regard, Kirkulak and Balsari (2009);
Cohen (1982); Kirkman (1974) argued about the irrelevance of historical cost
accounting in decision making especially, in the time of unstable price or
inflation as it misrepresents firms real position. On another hand, financial
reporting inconsistencies has persisted due to varying reporting standards and
requirements in different countries and as such posed great challenges to
international investors (Pologeorgis, 2013). In view of the above, the
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) sought a workable solution to
alleviate the existing complexity, conflict and confusion created by
inconsistency and the lack of streamlined accounting standards in financial
reporting (Pologeorgis, 2013). Prior to 2005, all countries were at liberty to
choose reporting system that suits them and most countries reported based on
historical cost. But with the event of capital market crash and Enrons case
which were argued on the basis of irrelevant information produced from
historical cost accounting, the need for one quality standard of accounting
across the globe then gained ground.
The
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was developed in 2001,
launched for adoption in 2005 and the EU countries had voluntarily adopted at
that time. According to Ikpefan and Akande (2012), accounting framework has
been shaped by IFRS to provide for recognition, measurement, presentation and
disclosure requirement relating to transactions and events that are reflected
in the financial statements. While Pologeorgis (2013) clearly stated that IFRS
as opposed to rule based GAAP, is principle based in that it begins with the
objectives of good reporting and then provides guidance on how the specific
objective relates to a given situation. IFRS is regarded as a set of high quality
accounting standard as compared to national GAAP (Dimos, 2011). Furthermore,
Gyasi (2010) noted that the adoption of IFRS would enhance the quality and
credibility of accounting information as its impacts is on internationalisation
of economic trade, foreign investment and globalisation of business ventures.
The
adoption of IFRS definitely affects many aspects of accounting. In view of
this, Delloite (2013) reported that the inception of IFRS has led to the use of
a variety of definitions for elements of financial statements like assets,
liabilities, equity, income and expenses. It has also resulted in the use of
different criteria for the recognition and measurement of items in the
financial statements. In addition, Galaen & Stenheim (2010) recognised that
the shift to IFRS represents substantial change in recognition and measurement
of accounting numbers and it is reasonable to believe that adoption of IFRS
will affect the quality of accounting numbers. Consequently, fair value
measurement has been noticed to be one of the most prominent changes in IFRS as
Agostino, Drago & Silipo (2009) Put forth that one critical element is that
IFRS rely heavily on fair value accounting as opposed to concept of historical
cost. Moreover, Christensen and Niklovaev (2009) stated that adoption of fair
value will allow for wider use of fair value for non-financial assets. However,
it has been criticized as Dimos (2011) noted that the use of fair value in
financial reporting is not unanimously accepted based on the argument of
unreliable numbers, especially when assets and liabilities are unique and their
measurement is based on subjective assumption. Argument in favour of fair value
opined by Christensen and Niklolaev (2009) is that commitment to fair value
accounting does not favour returns on asset and makes holding of unproductive
assets more expensive and when fair value estimates are reliable it improves
performance measurement.
According
to Khanagha (2011), the value and quality of accounting information are determined
by how well it meets the needs of users and that value relevance study is the
evaluation of the relationship between accounting information and capital
market values. Value relevance of accounting information has to do with when
accounting information can rightly predict the changes in share price that is
value relevant information enable investors to make informed decision. The
degree of value relevance is a function of the development of accounting
regulation, control mechanisms, business cycle, internationalization and
economic development and industry structure (Hellstrom, 2005). This accounting
must follow development trends and recognise changes that could affect it
relevance for decision making especially with the switch over to IFRS which is
said to be of high quality.
In
this regards, Ojo (2008) observed that the benefits of high quality standards
which should be derived from the adoption of IFRS such as relevance,
reliability and understandability will certainly ensure that users of financial
information benefit from better decision making as well as restoring the
confidence of investors in the aftermath of economic, capital market and
financial crises, which have damaged the credibility of audits and financial
reporting. Furthermore, IFRS are expected to improve the comparability of
financial statements, strengthen corporate transparency and enhance the quality
of financial reporting (Herbert, Tsegba, Ohaneles & Anyahara, 2013). In
studying value relevance of accounting information the earnings of a firm and
the book value of equity are the basic accounting numbers that are used in
literature to represent accounting information. In confirmation, Talebnia,
Valipour & Askari (2011) opined that earnings and book value per share are
measures that different individuals, investors and financial analysts use to
evaluate the performance of the enterprise. While earnings provide a measure of
how the firm’s resources are currently used, book value provides a measure of
the value of the firm’s resources independent of how the resources are
currently used. Earnings can be said to represent income statement while book
values represent the balance sheet. IFRS brought about changes in definition,
measurement, recognition of income, intangibles and the use of fair value.
Consequently, IFRS affects the accounting figure of earnings and book value of
firm. Therefore, there is a great need to investigate if those accounting
information are properly reflected in the consequent stock price.
Furthermore,
Chalmers, Clinch & Godfrey (2010) are of the opinion that value relevance
of book value and earnings is a natural place to look for impact of IFRS
adoption on accounting information given the paramount role equity valuation
plays in the IFRS conceptual framework. In line with this Aksoy (2008) opined
that the relationship between stock price and the accounting variables of
companies have been an interesting issue for researchers as well as managers,
investors and other stakeholders of firms for several decades and the interests
have focused on accounting earnings and its relationship with stock price or
returns. This in turn confirms the argument of Beaver (1989) that no other
figure in the financial statement receives more attention by the investment
community than Earnings per Share (EPS). Therefore, the primary objective of
value relevance research is to investigate whether the financial statements
released by firms provide high-quality and valuable accounting information that
enables users and investors to make informed decisions (Alfaraih & Alanezi,
2011).
The
Nigerian banking industry is the most regulated sector in Nigeria economy. It
is highly organised as corporate governance is seriously taken into
consideration. The particular effect of IFRS on the banking sector is the
motivation for carrying out this research in the banking sector. With IFRS
financial instruments classification, impairment, recognition, hedge
accounting, definition of debt versus equity have changed for banks and they
all give a signal of change in the degree of value relevance of financial
information presented by banks in Nigeria. This research therefore, seeks to
examine the impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of accounting
information. This involves making clear the impact of IFRS on earnings, change
in earnings and book values of banks in Nigeria and how that impact promotes
value relevance of information provided by listed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in
Nigeria.
M.Sc Project Topics in Accounting and Finance
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS (IFRS) ADOPTION AND VALUE RELEVANCE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF LISTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA
Department: Accounting and Finance (M.Sc)
Format: MS Word
Chapters: 1 - 5, Preliminary Pages, Abstract, References, Questionnaire.
Delivery: Email
Delivery: Email
No. of Pages: 122
NB: The Complete Thesis is well written and ready to use.
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