Ethical Principles and Relevance of Financial Reports of Quoted Companies in Nigeria (Published)
Financial reports are meant to present relevant accounting information among other qualities required of them. The relevance of financial report is necessary in decision making; investors, lenders and other creditors place reliance on financial reports that reflect predictive and confirmatory financial information. However, some financial information have been known to be distorted or falsified; resulting in irrelevant and misleading reports that are not suitable for decision making. Using survey research design based on a population of 4893 accountants and auditors of 169 quoted companies and four regulatory bodies in Nigeria, the study investigated the relationship between ethical principles and relevance of financial reports. Four hundred copies of the research instrument with a reliability test coefficient of 0.830 using the Cronbach’s alpha statistics were distributed with a 92.5% return rate. Data analysis employed the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicate that ethical principles influence the relevance of financial reports significantly ( F(4, 366) = 36.721, Adj. R2 = 0.279, p = 0.000). The study recommends continuous ethical orientation for accountants, managers and auditors of Nigerian quoted companies
Keywords: Ethics, Financial reports, Integrity, Quoted companies, Relevance
IMPACT OF HUMAN CAPITAL ACCOUNTING ON CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE- A STUDY OF SELECTED BANKS IN NIGERIA (Published)
This study examines the Impact of Human Capital Accounting(HCA) on financial performance and market valuation using four publicly quoted companies(banks) in Nigeria. It presents a comparative analysis between the current accounting practice of corporate valuation(net worth) and what it should be if investments on human capital are treated as assets, capitalised and amortized over the useful life span of the assets. Data for this study were sourced through questionnaire which were administered to a randomly selected respondents of accountants of management cadre. Secondary data were sourced from the annual financial statements of five selected firms, relevant textbooks and the internet. Data were analysed using percentages and Chi-Square statistical test. The study reveals among others that there is a significant increase in firms’ networth when investments on human capital are treated as assets and capitalized as against the current practice where such expenditures are treated as mere revenue expenses thereby leading to gross undervaluation of firms’ Statement of Financial Position(Balance Sheet) and the Income Statement (Profit and Loss Account). The study recommends that investment in human capital should be treated as asset and so amortised over the expected period of service while the current practice of writing-off the annual investment on human capital from the the year’s income statement should be discouraged as the practice grossly undervalues firms. Relevant regulatory bodies such as Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, SEC, CBN, NDIC and so on are implored to make laws that will compel quoted firms to compulsorily integrate HCA in their financial reports.
Keywords: : Human Capital, Corporate Valuation, Financial reports, Human Assets, Human Capital Accounting
