IMPACT OF IFRS ON THE QUALITY OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT IN BANKING INDUSTRY

IMPACT OF IFRS ON THE QUALITY OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT IN BANKING INDUSTRY (A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA)

Chapter One
Introduction
1.0 Background of the Study

This study sets to examine whether the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria has improved the quality of financial reporting in First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Nigeria adopted IFRS, and then referred to as International Accounting Standard (IAS), IN 1999 through a resolution by the council of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria (ICPAN), the legally mandated accounting institute in Nigeria. The study compares changes in the quality of accounting between the pre-adoption period from 1995-1999 and the post-adoption period from 2000-2004. The study specifically tests whether there is less earnings management, more timely loss recognition and higher value relevance in the adoption period as opposed to the pre adoption period. It also takes a global perspective to the IFRS question in relation to quality. The outcomes of the study show mixed results with some of the metrics indicating a marginal increase in accounting quality and others showing a decrease in the quality of accounting. Since their inception, International Accounting Standards have been produced by two bodies. The first, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) came up with 41 accounting standards between 1973 and 2000. The IASC was replaced by the International Accounting Standard Boards (IASB) in the year 2000. The new board embarked on a review processes aimed at refining the standards. The result was a reduction in the number of standards from 41 in year 2000 to 28 by year 2008. By 2011, 13 standards had been issued by the board has International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). According to IAS Plus(2010), IFRS refers to the entire body of IASB pronouncement including standards and interpretations approved by IASB, IASC and their interpretations produced by the Accounting Standards Interpretations Committee (IASIC). IFRS or IAS have also been described as a set of standards stating how particular types of transactions and other events should be reflected in financial statements, issued by IASC and IASB. The primary objective of the accounting standards is to enable corporations to provide investors and creditors with relevant, reliable and timely information which is in line with the IASB’s accounting framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statement. Such information, it is argued, contributes towards the achievement of orderly capital markets around the world. The concept of accounting quality is based on IASB framework where relevance, reliability, understandability and comparability (IFRS 2006) are key components and therefore, assumed that financial statement with four qualitative characteristics have better quality. Chen et al (2010) as simply described accounting quality as the extent to which the financial statement information reflects the underlying economic situation. In simple terms, this study seeks to establish if the adoption IFRS has improved qualitative characteristics of the financial reporting in Nigeria, where such improvement would be regarded as improvement in quality.  In spite of the arguments, many countries and companies have adopted IFRS and the need to evaluate their impact has been overwhelming. Barth et al. (2007) indicates that accounting amounts results from interaction of features of the financial reporting system which include accounting standards, their interpretations, enforcement and litigation and this obviously leads to obtaining different results from application of the same standards. Ball et al (2003) by extension argue that high quality standards like IFRS may also lead low quality accounting information depending on the incentives of the preparers. It is these contradictions that lead Ball et al. (2003) and others to conclude that power preparer incentives; underlying economic and political factors influence managers and auditors incentives as opposed to accounting standards. Many factor have also been cited has impacting financial reporting practices such as effective enforcement of standards and strong corporate governance.

Department:  Accounting

Format: MS Word

Chapters: 1 - 5, References, Questionnaires
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 63

Price: 3000 NGN

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