Sustainability reporting and the professional accountant in Nigeria

We wish to acknowledge the funding assistance of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to conduct this study, to which we are grateful to the Council of the Institute for approving the research grant.Sustainability reporting is increasingly being mandated internationally, including in the emerging markets. The latest effort has been a proposal by International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to integrate sustainability and financial reporting. Integrating sustainability and financial reporting presupposes the existence of sustainability reporting knowledge. This study seeks to gain an insight into the views, attitude and understanding of the concept of corporate sustainability and sustainability reporting by the Nigerian professional accountant who is expected to play a role in integrating sustainability and financial reporting in the Nigerian environment. Adopting an exploratory qualitative research design and snowball sampling survey, 1, 857 questionnaires were administered among Nigerian professional accountants out of which 860 usable responses were received. Analysis of the responses show that the accountants understand corporate sustainability as the incorporation of social and environmental concern in business decisions to ensure responsible business practices but within the context of shareholders value maximisation as opposed to being about the right thing to do. According to them sustainability is not about accountants helping corporations to internalise the cost of their externality or providing stakeholders with social and environmental accountability information. This is at variance with its original definition which emphasises meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. They are of the view that corporations operating in industries with sustainability concerns in Nigeria may not be motivated to engage in sustainability reporting because of lack of public awareness and the non-applicability of most of the business cases for sustainability. As such sustainability reporting should be predicated upon effective regulation, enforcement and sanctions. However, the accountants are favourably disposed to corporations engaging in sustainability reporting; playing some roles in its reporting chain. They support an accounting standard on sustainability reporting as well as Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) mandating it. There is also evidence that the accountants’ sustainability knowledge derives 65% from international linkages and only 1% from the local accounting profession, with a high 24% claiming no knowledge of sustainability reporting. To this end the study recommends that the accounting profession should intervene to equip its members with the relevant knowledge of sustainability reporting and that the corporate reporting regulatory authorities should mandate sustainability reporting in the Nigerian environment.Final Published versio

Test of Linkage between Governance Style and National Economic Indices

Published by Sciedu Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)The relationship between the deliberate reinvention of the wheel, for macroeconomic indices such as interest rate, inflation, exchange rate, stock prices, index of industrial output within the electoral windows and the political parties’ (incumbent and opposition) ideology is the focus of this study. Monthly macroeconomic data for UK, USA, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria, France and Germany from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) as well as World Bank for the period of 2000-2015 were used in the study. Employing majorly, the dynamic Generalised Method of Moment (GMM) estimation technique, the study reveals that the coefficients of partisanship effects have the same negative signs and is significant for all the countries except Nigeria and Egypt. Also, the coefficients are similar in terms of size (US and China). Hence, the results show that party orientation does have significant impact on stock market returns of the selected countries with greater impact on Nigeria and Egypt. Strengthening the various regulatory agencies in charge of these macroeconomic policies is recommended to avoid this unnecessary manoeuvring in governance. We are of the view that automation of capital markets activities will reduce the chances of manipulating capital market economic data.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Homosexuality and the church: Examining the moral implications of the stand of the church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) against homosexuality

The Church of Nigeria Anglican communion maintains a strong opposition to homosexuality with members of the church who are found to be homosexuals facing dismissal and ostracism. This work employed a qualitative research design reviewing relevant literature to examine the moral implications of the stand of the church on homosexuality as it affects the church and its members. The position of the church on homosexuality could lead homosexual members of the church to develop psychological problems that could lead to suicide, they could also be secretive about the way they feel thereby leading to many secret homosexuals within the Church and they could resent the church and religion in general. The Church is right in its condemnation of homosexuality but must rethink its stand on homosexuality. The overwhelming grace of God in Christ Jesus demands that the church views the homosexual as a sinner like other sinners who need help to turn away from their sins. The need to maintain a balance is therefore recommended

STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE AND MACROECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS IN NIGERIA

Motivated by the need to examine the relationship between stock market performance and macroeconomic fundamentals in Nigeria, the study employed the ex post facto research design and deployed secondary data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin over the period of 1981 to 2018. Crude oil price (COP), Consumer Price Index (CPI). Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Money Supply (MS) were the research’s independent variables while the Annual Market Capitalization (AMC) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange was used as a proxy for stock market performance. Analytical techniques employed for this study included the Unit Root test, Johansen’s Cointegration, Error Correction Model, and Granger causality test. The study found a significant positive relationship between COP, MS, and AMC, a significant negative relationship between CPI and AMC, and a significant relationship observed between GDP and AMC. It revealed further the presence of a long-run relationship between the dependent and independent variables and that disequilibrium in the stock market is offset by changes in macroeconomic fundamentals studied in the long run. It also revealed a unidirectional relationship between AMC and MS, a bidirectional relationship between GDP and AMC, and no causality between COP, CPI, and AMC. The study recommends the need for increased output since it is what constitutes a country’s GDP which is a vital factor investors look at before investing in a stock market, on the other hand, the stock market should improve on its information dissemination function to enlighten corporate organizations about their core function which if properly utilized, will give corporate organizations access to long-term funds that will enable them to increase stock market performance

Inculturation in a Post-Modern Africa: A Reflection on Salient Issues

This paper critically analyzed the concept of “Inculturation” in a post-modern Africa. Through the use of historical phen.omenological method, the paper averred that Inculturation of Christianity in a post-modern Africa is a herculean task that demands absolute caution. Hence, the paper discussed some salient issues such as the Evolutionary nature of African culture, the Unity of the Christendom and the Christian ecological concern, which should be put into serious consideration in the entire process of inculturation in Africa in order to safeguard  the essence of the gospel of Christ and to meet contemporary challenges. Keywords: Inculturation, Christianity, African cultural values, European missionaries, Post-modern Africa, African Christianity

FINANCIAL DEEPENING AND COMMERCIAL BANKS PERFORMNCE: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIA

The work was aimed at determining the financial deepening impact on commercial bank performance in Nigeria. Financial deepening was decomposed into credit allocation to private sector as a ratio of GDP, money supply as a ratio of gross domestic product and total loan to deposit ratio while net interest margin was used as proxy for commercial bank performance. Data was sourced from the CBN statistical bulletin and the world bank data base from 2000 to 2022. The Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test was used in determining stationarity of the data which were not stationary after first differencing hence giving room for the application of the ARDL bond test to determine the short and long run relationship between the implicated variables while the Granger causality test was used to determine the causality between financial deepening and commercial bank performance. The results revealed nonexistence of short run relation but existence of long run relationship was observed while a unidirectional relation between credit allocated to private sector ratio to GDP and net interest margin why no causality was recorded between other variables studied. The work recommends need for commercial banks to improve on their financial deepening activities so as to broaden their financial services operations and more so, policy makers should step in and ensure commercial banking broaden their financial deepening to accommodate individuals and the business world entirely

Differential Effects of Two Modes of Exercise on Anthropometric Characteristics of Persons with Type-2 Diabetes

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the separate effects of Aerobic Endurance Exercise (AEE) and Progressive Resistance Exercise(PRE) on some Anthropometric features of Body weight (BW), Body Mass Index (BMI), Percent Body Fat (PBF) and Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) of type 2 diabetics.  Type-2 diabetes outpatient volunteers who registered in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Medical Centre and met the inclusion criteria participated in the study. The randomize Pretest-Posttest Control Group quasi-experimental design was adopted as participants were randomly assigned to each two experimental and one control groups. The study participants in the two experimental groups were exposed to two different exercise modes for 15 weeks while their effects on the anthropometric features were monitored and recorded. Four null hypotheses guided the study, while the descriptive (means, SD and range) and inferential statistics (ANCOVA, eta squared (R2), and SIDAK pairwise multiple comparisons) were employed for the data analyses. Results revealed that all the hypotheses were not supported indicating that the two exercise protocols had significance effect as seen in the mean values differences of the pretest and posttest anthropometric measures.  It was concluded that a twice-weekly session of 15-week supervised circuit type endurance exercise and progressive resistance training protocol at moderate intensity had beneficial reduction effects on physical parameters of body weight body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and percent body fat. As a result, the two modes of exercise were effective in mediating anthropometric features of person recently diagnosed with type-2 diabetes recommendations were made based on the findings. Keywords: Type-2 diabetes, Body composition, Obesity, Aerobic Endurance Exercise, Progressive Resistance Exercise

Luontoympäristön asema kiertotalouden edelläkävijäorganisaatioissa Suomessa : Kehysanalyyttinen tarkastelu

Kiertotaloutta pyritään edistämään monien yksittäisten valtioiden ja organisaatioiden taholta niin Suomen ja Euroopan Union tasolla kuin ympäri maailman. Kiertotaloutta myös suositaan kestävän kehityksen mukaisena lähestymistapana. Vastuullisuuteen ja kestävyyteen pyrkivän organisaation nähdään olevan kiinnostunut sidosryhmistään ja haluavan ottaa ne huomioon myös omassa toiminnassaan. Sidosryhmiä itsessään ei nähdä enää ainostaan inhimillisinä tahoina, vaan sidosryhmänäkökulmaa on laajennettu koskemaan myös luontoympäristön kaltaisia ei-inhimillisiä tahoja ja toimijoita. Tämä tutkielma pyrkii ymmärtämään minkälainen asema luontoympäristöllä on kiertotalouden mallin mukaisessa toiminnassa Suomessa. Tutkielma on kiinnostunut sekä siitä ymmärryksestä, jota luontoympäristöön liitetään, että siitä, kuinka luontoympäristön ymmärrys vaikuttaa luontoympäristön asemaan kiertotalouden edelläkävijäorganisaatioiden sidosryhmämäärittelyissä. Tutkimus pyrkii tuottamaan uutta tietoa siitä, kuinka luontoympäristön sidosryhmäaseman huomioiminen edesauttaa kestävän taloustoiminnan toteutumista. Tutkielman kiertotaloutta ja sidosryhmäteoriaa yhdistävä viitekehys tarkastelee erityisesti luontoympäristön asemaa sidosryhmäteoriassa. Aiemman kirjallisuuden pohjalta hahmotellaan keinoja tulkita laadullista tutkimusaineistoa. Tutkielman laadullinen tutkimus pohjaa CICAT2025-kiertotaloushankkeen tuottamaan haastatteluaineistoon vuodelta 2021. Aiemman tutkimuksen avulla tulkitaan tämän tutkielman tutkimustuloksia. Tutkimuksessa on semanttista kehysanalyysia hyödyntäen tunnistettu aineistosta haastateltavien luontoympäristöön liittämää ymmärrystä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena määritellään kuusi luontoympäristön ymmärryksestä kertovaa kehystä, jotka ovat: Luontoympäristö resurssina, luontoympäristö tahdin määrittäjänä, luontoympäristö kilpailevana intressinä, luontoympäristö säädösten kohteena, luontoympäristö kompleksisena kokonaisuutena ja luontoympäristö tulevaisuutena. Analyysin tulokset osoittavat, että kiertotalouden edelläkävijäorganisaatiot Suomessa eivät tunnista luontoympäristön suoraa sidosryhmäasemaa, vaan kehykset kertovat luontoympäristön ymmärryksestä välillisesti jonkin toisen tekijän tai toimijan kautta. Luontoympäristön tunnistetaan kyllä liittyvän kaikkeen organisaation toimintaan, mutta luontoympäristöön liitetty ymmärrys on määrittelemätöntä ja luontoympäristön tulkinta on abstraktia. Tutkielman lopuksi esitetään seuraavat kolme johtopäätöstä. Ensiksi, vasta sisällyttämällä luontoympäristö sidosryhmien arvonluonnin -kaavion osaksi, tulee luontoympäristön vastavuoroinen vaikutussuhde kiertotalouden edelläkävijäorganisaatioiden toimintaan tunnistetuksi. Toiseksi, kiertotalouden edelläkävijäorganisaatiot Suomessa ymmärtävät luontoympäristön ensisijaisesti taloudellisen hyödyn näkökulmasta. Kolmanneksi, organisaatio ja sen sidosryhmät eivät ole koskaan irrallisia luontoympäristöstä, vaan sen erottamaton osa. Johtopäätökset osoittavat sen, kuinka luontoympäristön sidosryhmäaseman tunnistaminen yrityksen toiminnan osana auttaa aidosti kestävän kehityksen turvaamisessa