The value-relevanceof Accounting Information in Nigeria: Analysts’ perception in the IFRS regime

This study investigates the effect of IFRS adoption on the value-relevance of accounting information in Nigeria. The study builds on the explanation of extant finance theories on the value and timing of information. IFRS was measured with more disclosure of economic events as well as the fair valuation of economic events under IFRS. The opinions of a number of financial analysts with the aid of e-mail questionnaire were sourced. A log-linear test was run to test the interaction of the variables and the significance of such interaction. A significant relationship was found between the each of the independent variables and the dependent variable at 5% level of significance. The study therefore offers explanations regarding the IFRS adoption as a bridge of the gap between accounting and finance measurement of information. Hence, concludes that IFRS adoption has enhanced the value relevance of accounting information in Nigeria. However, recommendation was made that more measures should be put in place to ensure full compliance of IFRS by all affected Nigerian entities

Prospect for accounting academics: examining the effect of undergraduate students’ career decision / Ahmad Bukola Uthman , Mubaraq Sanni and Abdulai Agbaje Salami.

The future of accounting education rests on the development of accounting academics. In the social space of competing job opportunities for both graduate and professional accountants, this paper considers how the interest of prospective accounting graduates in Nigerian universities could reshape the widely reported shortage of accounting academics. Viewing through the lens of the Circumscription Theory, it examines how career choices of undergraduate accounting students affect the prospect of accounting education. The survey technique was adopted to sample students’ opinions across three universities in their career decisions, the factors that affect such decisions and their key referents. The respondents were divided based on their preference for academic jobs and the Mann-whitney U test was conducted to examine the differences in factors that affect their preferences. The study revealed that financial rewards account for students’ preference for non-academic jobs. Hence, only 10% of the respondents showed an intention to pursue a career in the academia. Other factors such as job leisure, ambitiousness and career prestige are also responsible for students’ preference for non-academic jobs. The results of the study confirmed the prediction of the Circumscription Theory. It is therefore recommended that academic jobs should be made attractive for accounting graduates by improving the financial rewards of academic staff generally. More so, attention should be further directed towards factors such as job leisure, holiday travels, prestige and easy achievement of ambitions since students get swayed from academic jobs because of those factors

Bank-Specific Variables and Banks’ Financial Soundness: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

This study examines the explanatory power of capital adequacy, asset quality, management soundness, earnings quality, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk (CAMELS) framework as well as a number of other variables on the financial soundness (measured by regulatory capital adequacy ratios) of banks in Nigeria. The findings, using ordinary least squared (OLS) regression subsequent to the establishment of no panel effects among the sampled banks, reveal the significant explanatory potentials of these bank-specific variables though some give a reversal of their prior expectations. Apart from reawakening the investors’ and depositors’ interest, the findings further have policy implications on the regulation and operation of these financial institutions. The study breaks new grounds in the measurement of capital adequacy using gross revenue ratio and leverage ratio, asset quality using income statement impairment charges for loan losses, and in the inclusion of the sensitivity to market risk most especially in the Nigerian context

Bank Capital, Operating Efficiency, and Corporate Performance in Nigeria

This study examines the impact of bank capital and operating efficiency on the Nigerian deposit money bank financial performance with a view to resolving risk-based and non-risk-based capitals’ dichotomy existing in the bank literature. Using bank-specific data obtained from the annual reports and accounts of 15 banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2015, the panel data regression analyses revealed the superiority of standard capital ratio of equity-to-total-assets, a non-risk-based capital, over other measures. While all measures, both risk-based and non-risk-based capitals, showed significantly positive effects on bank performance as measured by return-on-asset, mixed results were obtained from other indicators: return-on-equity and net-interest-margin. Overall, only equity-to-total-assets influenced all adopted performance indicators positively. It was also found that operating efficiency measured by cost-to-income ratio had negative impact on bank performance, but on the average it appeared too high. Thus, incorporating the standard capital ratio of equity-to-total assets into regulatory regime by the banks’ regulator is recommended to ensure its relevance is not overshadowed

Bank Capital, Operating Efficiency, and Corporate Performance in Nigeria

This study examines the impact of bank capital and operating efficiency on the Nigerian deposit money bank financial performance with a view to resolving risk-based and non-risk-based capitals’ dichotomy existing in the bank literature. Using bank-specific data obtained from the annual reports and accounts of 15 banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2015, the panel data regression analyses revealed the superiority of standard capital ratio of equity-to-total-assets, a non-risk-based capital, over other measures. While all measures, both risk-based and non-risk-based capitals, showed significantly positive effects on bank performance as measured by return-on-asset, mixed results were obtained from other indicators: return-on-equity and net-interest-margin. Overall, only equity-to-total-assets influenced all adopted performance indicators positively. It was also found that operating efficiency measured by cost-to-income ratio had negative impact on bank performance, but on the average it appeared too high. Thus, incorporating the standard capital ratio of equity-to-total assets into regulatory regime by the banks’ regulator is recommended to ensure its relevance is not overshadowed

Determinants of Bank Performance in Nigeria: Do they Behave Differently with Risk-Adjusted Returns?

The failure of banks in Nigeria has hitherto become a recurring phenomenon. Worried by the syndrome, this paper examines the determinants of bank performance in Nigeria taking into cognizance the duality of financial measures of bank performance. From an analysis of 115 bank-year observations of a sample of 17 Nigerian deposit money banks and macroeconomic data for the period 2012-2018 using Arellano-Bover one-step system GMM estimation approach, differences in the explanatory potential of these factors between the models with risk-neutral and risk-adjusted measures of performance as dependent variables are empirically established. This suggests that there is a higher probability of investors, depositors and other stakeholders being indecisive when analyzing the performance of banks. However, relying on the assumptions of risk-return hypothesis and level of risk embedded in banks’ operations could warrant them opting for determinants of risk-adjusted returns in their decision making. This study is exceptional in the bank performance literature for its long list of measures and drivers of bank performance

Impact of Auditor Industry Specialization on the Audit Quality of Listed Non-financial Firms in Nigeria

Audit quality improvement depends on several factors documented in the literature. Auditors are able to attract patronage if clients perceive their services to produce quality outcomes. Auditors therefore garner experience and acumen in the activities of specific clients’ industries in order to attract the largest market share and improve their portfolio of clients in certain industries as a result, they attain the status of ‘specialization’ in the audit of such industries.. In spite of this ‘specialization’, indices of dwindling audit quality continues to surface in the corporate entities occasioned by untimely takeovers and abrupt mergers. Therefore, this study examines the nexus between audit industry specialization and audit quality in the listed non-financial firms in Nigeria Data were drawn from financial reports of 40 listed firms in Nigeria covering periods between 2005 and 2019 and the total observation stood at 517. Data analysis was carried out with the use of longitudinal econometric models. Evidence from the study support the rejection of the null hypothesis (t=-1.72, p<0.10 & t=-1.74, p<0.10) for the two models thereby supporting the proposition that audit quality improved significantly improved as a result of audit industry specialization. It specifically isolates the oil and gas as well as service industries for significant improvement in audit quality as a result of industry specialization of auditors while pointing to the possibility of improving the agricultural and consumer service industries due to their negative but insignificant coefficients. The study recommends that regulatory authorities should disaggregate regulatory functions among industries to be able to better understand the interplay of audit industry specialization and thus make policies that inform better audit quality