INVESTORS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ACCEPTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to ascertain Investors attitude towards the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards in Nigeria.
Four hypotheses were postulated for the study. The hypotheses were to find out the attitude of investors towards the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards in Nigeria.
The data were collated through the use of questionnaires and analyzed with the use of chi-square. The findings of these research shows that it should be accepted.
After analysing the data it was shown that the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards is of great significance to investors in Nigeria.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INRODUCTION
1.1 Back ground of the Study
1.2 Statement of Research Problem
1.3 Research Questions
1.4 Objective of the Study
1.6 Scope of Study
1.7 Significance of the Study
1.8 Research Hypotheses
1.9 Research Methodology
1.10 Definition of Terms
References
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards
(IFRS):A Focus on Nigeria
2.2 The Challenges of Adopting International Reporting System
in Nigeria
2.3 Measuring Investors Reaction to the Adoption of
International Reporting Standards in Greece, Using a
Market Based Model
2.4 The Preparedness of Company’s to the Acceptance of
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
2.5 Annual Reports in the IFRS
2.6 The IFRS in Nigeria
2.7 Requirements of IFRS
2.8 Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard
(IFRS) in Developing Countries: The Case of Nigeria
2.9 Convergences in Accounting Standards: Insights from
Academicians and Practitioners
References
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Population
3.3 Sample and Sampling Procedure
3.4 Research Instrument
3.5 Validation of the Instrument
3.6 Administration of the Instrument
3.7 Method of Data Analysis
3.8 Analysis of Hypothesis
CHARPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
4.2 Test of Hypotheses
CHARPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.
5.0 Summary
5.2 Recommendation
Bibliography
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUTION
1.1 BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY
This study talks about investor’s acceptance of international financial reporting standards in Nigeria. In an economy, issues concerning financial reports have increase due to the need for high quality, reliable financial information.
Globalization of the capital market has led to the increase for the need of high quality, consistent and reliable financial information. Business unit are bound to interact on daily basis in other to attain stated business objectives. Potential investors are expected to be in a very good position to compare and evaluate the positions/situations of different business units with a view to be properly led to the best investment options worldwide. It becomes imperatively and absolutely necessary to prepare financial statement in a manner that reduces all business unit to common standard using standardized rules and regulations agreed by all and sundry (Adejuwon, 2011). This financial standard has created a transparent and reliable financial information for investors which has boost their willingness to invest in such economy. Consequently, there have being increase pressure for the adoption of a single set of accounting standards, which pose a challenge for the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB).
The IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) is the independent standard-setting body of the IFRS Foundation. Its members are responsible for the development and publication of IFRS, including the IFRS for SMEs and for approving Interpretations of IFRS as developed by the IFRIC (International Financial Reporting Interpretation Committee). Between 1973 and 2000, international standards were issued by the IASB’s predecessor organization, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), a body established in 1973 by the professional accountancy bodies in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ireland, and the United States. During that period, the IASC’s rules were described as "International Accounting Standards" (IAS). Since April 2001, this rule-making function has been taken over by a newly-reconstituted IASB. The IASB describes its rules under the new label "International Financial Reporting Standards" (IFRS), though it continues to recognize (accept as legitimate) the prior rules (IAS) issued by the old standard-setter (IASC).
IFRS is an accounting framework that establishes recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure requirements relating to transactions and events that are reflected in the financial statements. IFRS was developed in the year 2001 by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in the public interest to provide a single set of high quality, understandable and uniform accounting standards. The use of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) as a universal accounting or reporting language is gaining ground in almost all countries of the world. So many countries have adopted IFRS and convert their GAAP to IFRS. A high-quality set of accounting principles allows investors to have reliable and suitable set of information which enables them to make quality decisions. . Currently, more than 100 countries allow their companies to prepare their financial statements using international financial reporting standards (IFRS) (Leone, 2008)
The international reporting standards are principle based standards as opposed to rule based standards (Agoglia, Doupnik & Tsakumis 2011a). Accounting Standards is said to have three main objectives. Firstly, they help to standardize the diverse accounting policies and eliminate the incomparability of financial statements within an entity and across entities.
Secondly, they facilitate the presentation of high quality, transparent and comparable information in financial statements. Thirdly, they reduce to accounting alternatives and thereby eliminate the element of subjectivity in financial statements (Chakrabarty 2011). IASB, therefore, has its job clearly cut out for it. Accordingly, the global body has set for itself the objective of developing a single set of high quality, understandable, enforceable and globally accepted financial reporting based upon clearly articulated principles. (IFRS Foundation 2011)
Many countries have adopted international financial reporting standards as their global standard for corporate financing reports. Other Countries are still weighing their options while yet others, Nigeria inclusive, have announced Roadmaps for the eventual convergence of their local Standards with IFRS. For Nigeria, the phased adoption will start in 2012 with Public interest entities
while full convergence will be achieved in 2014 with Small and Medium scale enterprises joining. The breakdown of the journey towards IFRS adoption for Nigeria started with the inauguration of a stakeholders committee on October 22, 2009 by the Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) to fashion out a roadmap to the adoption of IFRS in Nigeria. On 28 July 2010, the Federal executive council accepted the report and fixed January1, 2012 as the effective date of transition to IFRS. On September 2, 2010 the detailed road map was unveiled to the Nigerian public at a press conference in Abuja.
However, changing from one accounting policy to another is seen as a difficult task because a lot of financial reporting and checks need to be done in other to provide the accurate and reliable information for investors. IFRS will bring significant changes in some sub-system areas, new financial reporting formats, new chart of account considerations new accounting concepts that will need to be implemented in the field.
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
A lot has been written about the differences between IFRS and other local standards and about the prospect of their convergence. Furthermore, a great deal of attention has been given to the attitude of some interested parties towards the movement to IFRS. On the other hand, there has been very little consideration given to the attitude of individual investors towards this process in Nigeria. Another problem faced by the adoption of IFRS is the fact of undergoing a drastic change of accounting procedures. There are a number of differences between IFRS and other accounting principles. This may cause users of financial statements to look at them from a new perspective. It would be a challenge to bring about awareness of IFRS and its impact among the users of financial statements.
The implementation of IFRS is another problem because training has to be given to employees for them to be able to use it in their accounting process. The processes they use have to conform to the accounting standards. The biggest hurdle for the professionals in implementing IFRS is the lack of training facilities and academic course on IFRS in Nigeria.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following questions have being raised with regard to the problem above.
These include:
1. How is the attitude of investors to the implementation of IFRS? Is it beneficial?
2. Is there any comparability and transparency in the financial reporting system?
3. Does IFRS possess the quality of relevance and representational faithfulness?
4. Do practitioners and academicians have different perception concerning the convergence to IFRS?
5. Is IFRS generally acceptable by every company and investors in Nigeria?
1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The research objective of this study involves:
1. Whether the adoption of IFRS is beneficial to investors in Nigeria.
2. Whether the adoption of IFRS will ensure greater comparability and transparency of financial reporting in Nigeria.
3. To show if IFRS possess the quality of relevance and representational faithfulness.
4. To determine if practitioners and academicians have different perception concerning the convergence of IFRS.
5. To determine if IFRS is generally acceptable by every company and investor in Nigeria.
1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY
The scope of study in this research is to check the attitude of individual investors to the acceptance of IFRS in Nigeria. The population of interest here are, people with academic degree, professional qualifications, respondents from listed company and audit firms.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is to check the attitude of investors towards the acceptance of IFRS in Nigeria. Results indicates that (1) the majority of respondents believe that convergence would be beneficial to prepares, users, auditors, analyst, and standard setters: (2) an appropriate framework for the global acceptance and enforcement of IFRS should be agreed on and a transition option should be given; (3) convergence to IFRS can improve cross-border integration of capital market, create uniformity in global financial reporting, minimize barriers to global competition for capital, increase global comparability, and promote a more informed global marketplace. These results can be insightful to companies worldwide that plan to adopt IFRS for their financial reporting, as well as regulators and standard setters in promoting convergence.
It is also significant to investors, since financial statements prepared using a common set of accounting standards (IFRS) help give investors better understanding of investment opportunity other than does prepared using a different set of national accounting standards. It also gives better reporting of financial reporting due to consistent application of accounting principles and improvement in reliability of financial statements. This in turn, will lead to increased trust and reliance placed by investors, analysts and other stakeholders in a company’s financial statements.
The research on IFRS is also considered important because it emphasizes on the development of financial market in the country, thus, will improve the comparability, relevance and reliability on financial statements. The financial market requires a similar set of international rules to achieve a smooth functioning of the market economy. IFRS is also important because it have been driven by the emphasis on financial reporting conformity with tax regulation, conservatism, and broad-stakeholder orientation. Finally, IFRS is also of utmost significance to industry because currently, companies need to prepare additional financial statements based on a unified reporting format to arise capital in global market. Convergence with IFRS will eliminate the requirement for dual sets of financial statements and thereby reduce the cost of raising funds by the companies.
1.8 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
HO: The implementation of IFRS is not beneficial to investors in
Nigeria.
HA: The implementation of IFRS is beneficial to investors in Nigeria
HO: There is no comparability and transparency in the financial reporting system.
HA: There is comparability and transparency in the financial reporting system.
HO: IFRS does not possess the quality of relevance and representational faithfulness.
HA: IFRS possess the quality of relevance and representational faithfulness
HO: Practitioners and academicians do not have different perception concerning the convergence to IFRS.
HA: Practitioners and academicians have different perception concerning the convergence to IFRS.
HO: IFRS is not generally acceptable by every company and investors in Nigeria.
HA: IFRS is generally acceptable by every company and investors in Nigeria.
1.9 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For the purpose of this study on investors’ reaction to the acceptance of IFRS, the questionnaire method of data collection would be used and the random sampling method would be used on the population.
1.10 DEFINATON OF TERMS
1. IFRS (international financial reporting standards): IFRS is a set of international standards stating how particular types of transactions and other events should be reported.
2. IASB (international accounting standards board): This is a board that regulates the standards, procedures, process and accounting policies that are to be used for the preparation of financial statements.
3. GAAP (Generally Acceptable Accounting Practices): These are conventions and rule of thumb practices which are develop through the ages as concerning accounting practices. They are a dynamic set of both broad and specific guidelines that companies should follow when measuring and reporting information in their financial statements.
4. CONVERGENCE: It means to achieve harmony with IFRS; in precise terms, convergence can be considered ‘to design and maintain national accounting standards in a way that financial statements are prepared in accordance with national accounting standards draws unreserved statements of compliance with IFRS.
5. STANDARDS: Standards are rules comprising of best practices issued from time to time by a duly empowered body.