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Impact of Annual Report Reading Exercises on Students’ Ability to Extract Relevant Corporate Information in Nigerian Polytechnics

Abstract

Annual report reading exercises are structured learning activities designed to expose students to actual corporate financial and non-financial information contained in annual reports, while students’ ability to extract relevant corporate information refers to their capacity to identify, locate, select, and interpret useful information from corporate reports. Effective understanding of annual reports is important in accounting education because it enables students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world corporate reporting practices. However, many accounting students may experience difficulties identifying relevant information from lengthy annual reports due to limited practical exposure and inadequate reading practice. This study therefore examines the impact of annual report reading exercises on students’ ability to extract relevant corporate information in Nigerian polytechnics. Annual report reading exercises involve the systematic use of corporate annual reports as instructional materials through activities such as identifying financial figures, locating accounting disclosures, comparing reported information, examining management discussions, and extracting information relating to assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, expenses, and corporate performance. Regular engagement with these exercises can provide students with practical experience in navigating complex corporate reports and recognizing information that is relevant to specific accounting questions. It can also improve students’ familiarity with the structure, content, terminology, and presentation of annual reports. Students’ ability to extract relevant corporate information involves their competence in locating specific information, distinguishing relevant information from unnecessary details, interpreting reported figures, and selecting appropriate information for accounting analysis and decision-making. This ability is essential for accounting students because professional accounting activities frequently require the examination of corporate reports to obtain accurate and useful information. Annual report reading exercises may therefore provide students with repeated opportunities to develop these skills through practical exposure to authentic corporate information and reporting formats. The study will adopt a quantitative research design, particularly a quasi-experimental design, to examine the impact of annual report reading exercises on students’ ability to extract relevant corporate information. The population will comprise accounting education students in selected Nigerian polytechnics, from which a sample will be selected using an appropriate sampling procedure. Data will be collected through a structured achievement test designed to assess students’ ability to locate, select, and interpret relevant information from annual reports. The data collected will be analyzed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The study is expected to establish that students exposed to annual report reading exercises demonstrate improved ability to extract relevant corporate information compared with students who receive conventional classroom instruction without regular annual report reading activities. The exercises are expected to improve students’ ability to locate specific information, recognize relevant disclosures, interpret corporate figures, and distinguish useful information from irrelevant details. The study may also show that practical exposure to actual annual reports enhances students’ confidence and competence in handling corporate reporting information. The findings will have important implications for teaching and learning in accounting education. Accounting lecturers can incorporate annual reports into classroom activities to provide students with practical opportunities to examine authentic corporate information. Reading exercises can be organized around specific tasks such as identifying financial statement items, locating accounting policies, extracting performance indicators, and interpreting corporate disclosures. Such activities can make accounting lessons more practical and encourage students to develop analytical reading skills required for understanding financial reports. The study will be beneficial to accounting education students, lecturers, polytechnic management, curriculum planners, and professional accounting educators. Students may benefit from improved competence in locating and interpreting corporate information, while lecturers may gain an effective instructional approach for connecting theoretical accounting concepts with real corporate reports. Curriculum planners may use the findings to strengthen practical financial reporting activities within accounting education programmes. The study may also contribute to preparing students for professional accounting responsibilities that require effective use of corporate financial information. The study recommends that accounting education programmes in Nigerian polytechnics should provide regular annual report reading exercises as part of financial accounting and financial reporting instruction. Lecturers should select relevant corporate annual reports and develop structured tasks that require students to locate, compare, interpret, and evaluate corporate information. Students should also be encouraged to engage with annual reports beyond classroom exercises to strengthen their practical reporting skills. It is concluded that regular annual report reading exercises can provide a valuable instructional approach for improving students’ ability to extract relevant corporate information and strengthening practical competence in accounting education.

Keywords: Annual Report Reading, Corporate Information, Accounting Education, Financial Reporting, Annual Reports, Corporate Disclosures, Financial Statements, Information Extraction, Accounting Instruction, Financial Information, Corporate Reporting, Financial Analysis, Accounting Skills, Report Interpretation, Accounting Competence