The Determinants and Financial Statement Effects of IFRS Adoption in Nigeria

Abstract

The chapter examines the determinants and financial statement effect s of IFRS adoption in Nigeria. It also investigate into the impact of effect of the adoption of IFRS on accounting figures and ratios in the financial statements of 50 companies quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The determinants considered include firm's characteristics (firm size, operating cash flow, leverage, turnover, growth in turnover, profitability, liquidity and earnings quality) and corporate governance variables (board size, board independence and audit type). The data were obtained from the annual reports of companies listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2011 and 2013 and was analyzed using the ordinary least square (OLS) and logistic regression which were used to test for determinants of IFRS adoption while the independent t-test was used to examine the financial statement effects. With regard to the determinants, the empirical result indicates only profitability and earnings quality have significant but negative association with IFRS adoption. Moreover, IFRS adoption has significant effect on the return on equity.