F. O. Iyoha

Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Africa: benefits, prospects and challenges

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study on the benefits, prospects and challenges of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in some African countries. A questionnaire was administered to gather data from respondents made up of users and preparers of accounting information using the Twitter social network. The objective was to find out the perception of users and preparers about what the benefits, prospects and challenges of IFRS adoption are in African countries. The results of the study indicate that IFRS adoption in Africa will have the potential to be beneficial to a wide range of stakeholders. The benefits notwithstanding, there are however, a number of challenges to be faced in the process of adoption of the new standard including the ethical environment in Africa. The study recommends among others that a rigorous IFRS capacity building programme should be embarked upon by all regulatory bodies, firms and training institutions in order to provide the needed manpower for IFRS implementation, monitoring and compliance.

Economics and Political Implications of International Financial Reporting Standards

Economics and Political Implications of International Financial Reporting Standards focuses on the consequences and determinants of the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), which has remained a top issue in International Accounting. This timely publication brings to the forefront issues related to the political and economic influences and impacts of IFRS in addition to providing a platform for further research in this area.

The Impact of Budget Reforms on the Quality of Budget Management in Nigeria

Budget management reforms were the major areas of the Nigerian public service reforms undertaken from the inception of civilian administration in 1999. The major objective was to enhance budget discipline among others. This was predicated on the theoretical considerations that improving the process and management of budgeting through reforms would be ultimately translated into improved budgetary outcome. This paper empirically investigated the impact of budget reforms on the quality of budget management in Nigeria. The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) form the proxies for budget reforms, while budget discipline (BDISC) and fiscal discipline (FDISC) were used as proxies for the quality of budgeting. Historical time series data representing 7years before and 7 years after the adoption of MTEF, and 5 years before and 5 years after the enactment of FRA were collected and analysed using the pre-test/post-test design of a Paired Sample T-test. The result favoured our initial proposition that budget reforms (MTEF and FRA) had not significantly impacted on the quality of budget management (BDISC and FDISC) in Nigeria. It was, therefore, recommended that the government should provide the leadership and political will, not only to enforce the provisions of FRA, MTEF and other reforms, but to sanction those that short circuit the system to their advantage. This will go a long way to enhance compliance with the reforms, and bring about the expected improvement in the quality of the nations budget management.

ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: TOWARDS OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF NON-INCLUSION OF CITIZENS IN PUBLIC POLICY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA

This paper examined electronic governance platforms ability to mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria. To achieve the objective of the study, secondary data collected from books, journals and government websites of 20 states were analysed to ascertain whether there are avenues for citizens to interact with governments in policy formulation as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that while electronic governance is a possible solution to overcoming the challenges of non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation of public policy; but its adoption is yet to be achieved due to the low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure. It, therefore, recommends the need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to involve a sound and clear guideline on how to adopt electronic governance in policy formulation through an increase in budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens.

IFRS Adoption and Foreign Investment in Africa: Institutions Also Matter

The main argument of this study is that the rising global agitation for developing countries, including those in Africa, to adopt IFRS for foreign investment attractiveness is confronted by institutional framework of these countries. In essence, we ask an important question, what effect does IFRS adoption have on FDI when considering the institutional ‘plague’ – corruption – in African countries? 42 African countries were used as sample for the period 2001-2012. Two estimation approach were applied – the feasible generalised least square technique and the system GMM. The result reveals that African countries will benefit more from IFRS by improving their institutional framework, than having a static institutional framework and then adopting IFRS. This result is robust in diverse respect.

Impact of State Institutions on the Quality of Accounting Practice in Nigeria

Although institutions play significant roles in ensuring a high quality of accounting practice, their impact is not well understood in the context of Nigeria. Drawing on the perception of users and compliers of accounting information, this study empirically investigates the impact of state institutions on the quality of accounting practice in Nigeria. The results of this study, using multiple regression analysis, indicate the impact of state institutions on the quality of accounting practice in Nigeria is fairly significant. Though joint significance was observed, however, the level of impact differs among the institutions. This implies that regulations are not adequate in ensuring a high level quality of accounting practice in Nigeria. These findings provide support for the need to streamline, strengthen and harmonize existing regulatory arrangements in Nigeria with a view to codifying as separate laws to enhance their effectiveness. Thus, inconsistencies in the provisions of the institutions and differences in the assessment of the quality of accounting practice by the relevant bodies would be minimised and monitoring and enforcement of regulations enhanced