Adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in Nigeria: Enduring challenges and implications (original) (raw)
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This paper investigates the impediments to IFRS adoption in Nigeria. It examines the attitudes of key stakeholders towards IFRS adoption. The sample is drawn from academics and practitioners who are critical stakeholders in the success or failure of IFRS implementation. The results of the study overwhelmingly evidence that Nigeria was not prepared to adopt IFRS, even to date. The study finds the two major roadblocks to IFRS adoption as (i) lack of education, understanding and experience by preparers of financial reports with the use of IFRS; and (ii) lack of coverage of IFRS in contemporary accounting curricula. An important policy implication is the urgency of accounting curriculum review in the tertiary education system to incorporate IFRS and IPSAS and their implementation dimensions. Failure to both integrate IFRS modules into Nigeria's tertiary education accounting curricula and coordinate tertiary accounting education programmes two years after IFRS adoption exacerbates the implementation challenges and frictions associated with such tardiness.
The fast pace of globalization with integration of national financial markets has stimulated the need for a common financial language (IFRS) because good financial reporting makes investment and financial decisions more efficient. Nigeria adopted the IFRS in January 2012. This exploratory study examines the state of readiness of Nigerian academics (accounting lecturers and students) and practitioners (professional accountants and auditors) to embrace IFRS adoption. The study examined three research questions about: (i) the extent of IFRS familiarity by academics and practitioners; (ii) the state of readiness to embrace IFRS by academics and practitioners; and (iii) their perspectives regarding a proper national transition plan to IFRS adoption. The results showed significant differences between accounting students, lecturers and practitioners with respect to their degree of familiarity with IFRS. Respondents believed that Nigeria was not ready for IFRS adoption and were of the view that 'IFRS Course in Accounting Curriculum' is the best plan to transition Nigerian companies to IFRS, followed by 'IFRS training for management and staff'. An important policy implication of this study is the urgency of accounting curriculum review in our tertiary education institutions to incorporate IFRS and its implementation dimensions.
American Journal of Economics June 2012, Special Issue: 41-45, 2012
The Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB) issued a timeline and a roadmap for the proper adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by companies operating in the country. We really shed more light and detail assertions on the key issues raised by the government proposal, we proposed that the need for a globalised accounting standards or " externality" is highly overstated. A globalised and widely accepted accounting regulator is unlikely to help achieve the stated goals of comparability and consistency of financial reporting bearing in mind the nature and economic situation of the country. We posit that, Nigerian companies should be given the opportunity to choose the use of either Nigerian GAAP or IFRS rather than imposing one global monopoly set of standards that is designed to suit the need of developed countries. We concluded that, focus on auditing and investigation is very important which deserve the attention of all and sundry especially from the standards setting bodies if the aim of financial reporting will be realized in the future, for the absolute gains or benefits associated from the adoption of IFRS, which is a principle -based accounting standards are likely to be achieved only if auditors are principle -based in nature. We therefore recommend that, the federal government through the NASB or the SEC to re -consider the implications of its proposal to work hand in hand with the Federal ministry of education and the Nigerian professional bodies, such as Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Nigerian College of Accountancy, Institute of Chartered Taxation of Nigeria etc, so that more attention will be accorded to educational judgments.
Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard in Nigerian: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Indian Journal of Finance and Banking
This paper examines the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Nigeria that started since January, 2012; and how far the Nigerian government via the Financial Reporting Council has gone in the transition of Nigerian local GAAP (SAS) to International GAAP (IFRS).The study examined and identified the benefits that Nigeria and Nigerians gained so far as a result of convergence into IFRS; the bottlenecks that paralyze the full percentage of the transition as well examined the techniques taken by Nigeria in making sure a smooth, successful and amicable implementation of the three stages of convergence.In the course of this study the study observed vividly that Nigeria has gained a lot from the convergence because most of its local financial expertise are now turned into International expertise as well as International financial consultants, thus, convergence has increase the level of employment in the country.The main drawbacks of the transition is amendments of Nigerian tax laws, because tax law...
ADOPTION OF INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (IAS AND IFRS) ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA
This study examines the Adoption of International Accounting Standards (IAS and IFRS) in Nigeria. The study has identified the issues and challenges associated with adoption of the IAS and IFRS in Nigeria. The study used an exploratory research methodology to identify the formulation of the IASB for the purpose of achieving comparability of financial reports among different countries and different sectors of various economy, setting up standards that will be accepted internationally and the weaknesses of the IASB in the process of achieving purpose of formulation. The study also identifies the issues and challenges of the IFRS adoption to business operations in Nigeria. However, the study recommends that Nigeria as a developing nation needs to work its way into the board of the IASB to represent national interest and to insist on a review of the standards for the inclusion of guides relating to peculiar standards of the country especially those issues that affect business operations in Nigeria. A comparative assessment of perspectives of academics and practitioners regarding familiarity, readiness, benefits, challenges and proper plan to be used in the process of IFRS adoption should be done. This will show the views of concerned stakeholders (academics and practitioners) on IFRS research agenda that will suggest new ways for country adoption.
APPLICATION AND CHALLENGES OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS IN NIGERIA
The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria like in many countries has obstacles and challenges. The study used content analysis method to highlight challenges that are peculiar to Nigeria. Different statutes that are apparently in conflict with the provisions of the standards are to be amended if Nigeria is fully adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards. Terms like balance sheet, value added statements and five-year financial summary recognized by the Companies and Allied Matters Act Cap C20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 are to be amended. Significant changes in respect of accounting standards are recommended to be incorporated into the syllabi of tertiary institutions offering accounting courses. Regulatory authorities should step up their supervisory functions on preparers of financial statements to ensure strict adherence to the full provisions of the standards.
Archives of Business Research, 2014
This study empirically analyses the effect of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) adoption on accounting practices in Nigeria. The study adopted personal interview and questionnaire methods as the major techniques for primary data collection. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive such as tables, frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics of Chi-square and ANOVA respectively. The study concluded that that there is a strong positive relationship between the adoption of IFRS and financial performance due to cost reduction of an organisation. IFRS adoption improves business efficiency and productivity for effective business performance. The adoption of IFRS saves Multinational Corporations the expense of preparing more than one set of accounts for different national jurisdictions. It is recommended that the financial reporting practice in Nigeria should cut across the public and private sector to bring uniformity in accounting practice regarding annual preparation of financial reports to the owner of companies and other interested parties.
Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in Developing Countries: The Case of Nigeria
The study focused on the adoption process of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on a developing economy, with particular reference to Nigeria. The paper is based on the data obtained from literature survey and archival sources in the context of the globalization of International Financial Reporting and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).Nigeria has embraced IFRS in order to participate in the benefits it offers, including attracting foreign direct investment, reduction of the cost of doing business, and cross border listing. In implementing IFRS Nigeria will face challenges including the development of a legal and regulatory framework, awareness campaign, and training of personnel. Recommendations were made to forestall such challenges which include strengthening education and training, establishment of an independent body to monitor and enforce accounting and auditing standards.
The globalization of economic systems as part of the move towards turning the world to a global village has not left the financial reporting and the accounting system and has propelled the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). The International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) as a professional body set to oversee the implementation and maintenance of IFRS discovered through case studies that the implementation of IFRS in countries with different economic culture have introduced different versions of the IFRS. In line with this, this paper is a critical insight on the adoption of IFRS in Nigeria, looking at its history, benefits, challenges and lessons which will help countries that are yet to adopt IFRS in charting their course; the paper discovered that Nigeria have experienced the benefits of IFRS mostly in its international transaction as a developing nation; that Nigeria is using the gradual convergence method; that some of the local GAAP is conflicting with the IFRS when it gets to local circumstances because some of those domestic financial reporting policies have not been amended to accommodate IFRS; these challenges were surmised under: Existing Laws and Regulations, Costs of Implementation, Technology and Technical Capacity, Level of Awareness, Level of Education and Enforcement. The position of this paper is that the urgency in the adoption of is a positive move towards Nigeria's economic development with better adoption options as a way forward.
European Scientific Journal, 2014
The globalization of the world's economy and markets led companies and nations to become world global players. In addition, more investments take place on a global level. Before the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), different countries developed their own national accounting standards or adopted that of other countries. However, movement of business toward a global economy brought challenges in comparability, objectivity, reliability, understandability among others. These issues have accelerated the need to move toward global accounting standards. Thus these challengesspelt the need for a single set of high quality and globally accepted accounting standards. Ghana and Nigeria are major trade partners and due to different timing of the adoption of IFRS, this research was conducted tocompare the IFRS adoption and implementation of these countries through a literature review. It was found that Ghana and Nigeriacommenced the adoption process in 2005 and 2010 respectively. It was revealed that, the national standards of Ghana and Nigeria were closely related and had both suffered lack of certain standards and disclosurerequirements. Besides, it was revealed that the IFRS'adoption and implementation demands a new set of skills and expertise, transitional challenges,dealing with inconsistencies in applicable laws, emerging technical areas and terminologies; also frequent reviews of standards, higher demand for auditors among others despites the benefits that came with it.This study recommends that, both Ghana and Nigeria should work on skills and expertise gap through training and development andto ensure that these standards are included in the academic and professional curricula. Moreover, regulatory bodies should monitor and