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THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL STANDARDS (IFRS) ON THE QUALITY OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK PLC)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

This study sets out to examine whether the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria has improved the quality of financial reporting in First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Nigeria adopted IFRS, and then referred to as International Accounting Standards (IAS), in 1999 through a resolution by the Council of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria (ICPAN), the legally mandated accounting institute in Nigeria. The study compares changes in the quality of accounting between the pre-adoption period from 1995 to 1999 and the post adoption period from 2000 to 2004. The study specifically tests whether there is less earnings management, more timely loss recognition and higher value relevance in the adoption period as opposed to the pre adoption period.

It also takes a global perspective to the IFRS question in relation to quality. The outcomes of the study show mixed results with some of the metrics indicating a marginal increase in accounting quality and others showing a decrease in the quality of accounting. Since their inception, International Accounting Standards have been produced by two bodies. The first, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) came up with 41 accounting standards between 1973 and 2000. The IASC was replaced by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in the year 2000. The new Board embarked on a review processes aimed at refining the standards. The result was a reduction in the number of standards from 41 in the year 2000 to 28 by the year 2008. By 2011, 13 standards had been issued by the board as International Financial Reporting standards (IFRS). According to IAS Plus (2010), IFRS refers to the entire body of IASB pronouncements including standards and interpretations approved by IASB, IASC and their interpretations produced by the Accounting Standards Interpretations Committee (IASIC). IFRS orIAS have also been described as a set of standards stating how particular types of transactions and other events should be reflected in financial statements, issued by IASC and IASB (ACCA 2008:41). The primary objective of the accounting standards is to enable corporations to provide investors and creditors with relevant, reliable and timely information which is in line with the IASBs accounting framework for the preparation and presentation of Financial Statements. Such information, it is argued, contributes towards the achievement of orderly capital markets around the world Imhoff (2003).

The concept of accounting quality is based on the IASB framework where relevance, reliability, understandability and comparability (IFRS 2006:38) are key components and therefore, assumed that financial statement with the four qualitative characteristics have better quality. Chen et al. (2010:222) has simply described accounting quality as the extent to which the financial statement information reflects the underlying economic situation. In simple terms, this study seeks to establish if the adoption of IFRS has improved qualitative characteristics of the financial reporting in Nigeria, where such improvement would be regarded as improvement in quality. In spite of the arguments, many countries and companies have adopted IFRS and the need to evaluate their impact has been overwhelming. Barth et al. (2007:2) indicate that accounting amounts results from interaction of features of the financial reporting system which include accounting standards, their interpretations, enforcement, and litigation and this obviously leads to obtaining different results from application of the same standards. Ball et al. (2003) by extension argue that high quality standards like IFRS may also lead to low quality accounting information depending on the incentives of the preparers. It is these contradictions that led Ball et al. (2003) and others to conclude that poor preparer incentives, underlying economic and political factors influence manager and auditors incentives as opposed to accounting standards. Many factors have also been cited as impacting financial reporting practices such as effective enforcement of standards and strong corporate governance.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Although many countries have faced challenges in their decisions to adopt IFRS, its wide spread adoption has been promoted by the argument that the benefits outweigh the costs. Recently there has been a push towards the adoption of IFRS developed and issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The organizations should enable regulators and other key player to gauge the effectiveness of the financial reporting system in place such as training and development for practitioners and new members, due diligence for Accounting standards and the overall institutional and professional organization conducive for effective standards application. Therefore, implementation of IFRS would reduce information irregularity and strengthens the communication like between all shareholders and also reduces the cost of preparing different version of financial statements where an organization is a multi-national.   
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY       
The objective of the study is to find out the following:   
1.   To examine the impact of IFRS on quality of financial statement in First Bank of Nigeria Plc.   
2.   To examine whether the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria has improved the quality of financial reporting in First Bank of Nigeria Plc.   
3.   To find out role the of IFRS play in banking institutions in Nigeria.   
4.   To determine whether IFRS adoption and implementation has been made positive impact in Nigeria.   
5.   To find out the problems confronting the staff of First Bank of Nigeria Plc in adopting IFRS into system.   
6.   To make useful recommendations based on the findings of the study.       
RESEARCH QUESTIONS       
1.  Does IFRS aid quality of financial statement in First Bank of Nigeria Plc?   
2.  Does International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria improved the quality of financial reporting in First Bank of Nigeria Plc?   
3.  Does IFRS play any significant role in banking institutions in Nigeria?   
4.  Has there been effective implementation and adoption of IFRS in First Bank of Nigeria Plc?   
5.  Is there any problem confronting the staff of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Uyo in enhancing quality financial statement? 
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES       
HYPOTHESIS 1 
H0:   IFRS does not aid quality of financial statement in First Bank of Nigeria Plc. 
H1:   IFRS does aid quality of financial statement in First Bank of Nigeria Plc. 
HYPOTHESIS 2 
H0:   IFRS does not play any significant role in banking institutions in Nigeria. 
H1:   IFRS play any significant role in banking institutions in Nigeria. 
HYPOTHESIS 3 
H0:  There is no significance relationship between effective implementation and adoption of IFRS in First Bank of Nigeria Plc. 
H1:  There is a significance relationship between effective implementation and adoption of IFRS in First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 
The ultimate goal of every industry or organization including banks is to quality financial reporting (statement) information is issued to public. This goal can be achieved in the banking sector adopting IFRS for effective financial reporting. This study necessary because would enable the managers of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, and other banks to improve on their implementation of the standards. It would also help the employers, employees and the potential investors who may want to invest on the company. Finally, it would serve as a reference source to students or other researchers who might want to carry out their research on the similar topic.   
SCOPE OF THE STUDY       
The study concerns about the impact of IFRS on quality of financial statements with a particular reference to First Bank of Nigeria Plc.   
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY       
The limitation of this study was inability of management to divulge certain information which they consider sensitive and fear of publication which might be detrimental to their operation. Another limitation to the study is time constraint. The period within which the study is conducted is short for a thorough research work, hence gathering adequate information becomes very difficult. Also, finance is one of the limitations to study. The researcher is facing financial constraint to meet the all the needed educational requirements including this research study. This caused the researcher to restrict his research to one company for possible completion of the study. Finally, lack of materials on the topic. This is new in the area of quality of financial statement in Nigeria. Therefore, the researcher resolved to seek friendly approach in order to obtain the needed materials or information from the organization under study through the administration of questionnaire.   
DEFINITION OF TERMS   
IFRS: International Financial Reporting Standard. 
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Financial statements are a collection of reports about an organizational financial results, conditions and cash flows. 
IAS: International Accounting Standards. 
GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. 
ACCOUNTING: This is defined as the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information to permit informed judgement and decisions by users of the information (Frank Wood & A. Sangster, 2005).   
INCOME STATEMENT: Income statement is a financial statement that measures a company's financial performance over a specific period (Investopedea.com).   
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOW: Statement of cash flow is a financial statement that shows changes in the balance sheet (financial position) accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing and financing activities(Bodie, Zane; Alex Kane and Alan J. 2004).

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