Nigeria

Fluctuating Exchange Rate and Nigeria’s Economic Growth: A Time Series Assessment of Over Three Decades’ Experience Using Interest Rate and Inflation Rates as Control Variables (Published)

This study examined the empirical investigation of the effect of fluctuating exchange rate on Nigeria’s economy from 1986 to 2021. The specific objective is to determine the combined effects of exchange rate, inflation, interest rate on gross domestic product and the individual effect of exchange rate, inflation, interest rate on the gross domestic product. The data were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and National Bureau of Statistics. The regression analysis to provide meaning to the research through which the following findings were made; this study depicts on exchange rate, inflation rate, and interest rate contribution to gross domestic product. The consequences of this examination have demonstrated that exchange rate, inflation rate, and interest rate are serious determinants of gross domestic product in the Nigerian Economic Growth. The factors (exchange rate, inflation rate and interest rate) when presented synonymously, have performed well regarding economic growth. The finding suggested that exchange rate, inflation rate and interest rate are determinants of gross domestic product. A practical assessment of these dimensions revealed that exchange rate, inflation rate and interest rate were effectively stabilized and they will achieve a greater significant benefit in terms of gross domestic product. The result shows that, the higher stability of exchange rate, inflation rate and interest rate the higher the possibility of gross domestic product of Nigeria, which will definitely have positive significant impact on economic growth of Nigeria.

Keywords: Exchange Rate, Inflation Rate, Interest Rate, Nigeria, economic growth, fluctuating exchange rate

Unauthorized Withdrawal from ATM/POS: Compounding Customers’ Nightmares in the Banking Sector of Nigeria (Published)

In recent times, a lot of bank customers have experienced a sudden disappearance of funds in their bank accounts and this has been a source of concern to the stakeholders in the banking sector of Nigeria. These are unauthorized transactions which occur without the consent or authorization from the customers. The unauthorized transactions may be in the form of illegal or unauthorized withdrawals by criminals or indiscriminate or multiple deductions or debits by the banks claiming to be ATM/POS transaction charges. In some cases, the entire life savings of a customer may be siphoned without any trace of the source of the illegal withdrawals. This paper examines these cases of unauthorized transactions in the accounts of bank customers and argues that appropriate steps should be taken by the banks to prevent unauthorized transactions in the customers’ accounts rather than rely an exemption clause which may not avail them when they are negligent. The paper concludes that the customers also have a role to play to guard against unauthorized withdrawals in their accounts, and recommends among others, that any customer who discovers any unauthorized transaction in his or her account should immediately report to the bank for appropriate action to be taken.

Keywords: ATM/POS, Banking Sector, Nigeria, customers’ nightmares, unauthorized withdrawal

Impact of Social Costs on Business Reputation Among Listed Firms in Nigeria: Structural Equation Modeling Approach (Published)

There are frequent disruptive developments in the contemporary business environment, which is chaotic. A restriction is the inability of an organisation to predict future performance with certainty. To improve company performance and develop their reputation, organisations must strike a balance between the economic (removal of societal costs) and non-economic (business reputation) sides of their operations. Consequently, this study examined how social costs impact the business reputation of listed companies in Nigeria. The study used survey research designs. The population was made up of 168 firms that were listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group as of December 31, 2022. To collect primary data, a standardised and verified questionnaire was used. For the analysis, a structural equation model was employed. The results of the first hypothesis refuted the findings of the initial hypothesis, which demonstrated a strong positive correlation between social costs and business reputation. The study yields a standardised estimate of 0.840 (t-value = 8.116, p 0.001), demonstrating that social costs significantly affect the reputations of listed firms. The second hypothesis postulates a positive relationship between innovation and a company’s reputation (standardised estimate = 0.547, t-value = 4.562, p 0.001). The relationship between business ethics and reputation is still negligible, with a standardised estimate of 0.116, a t-value of 0.669, and a p-value of 0.503. The study recommends that corporate managers work harder on social responsibility to boost the reputation of their businesses. Governmental agencies in Nigeria should set up a system encouraging companies to prioritise social responsibility projects.

Keywords: Nigeria, business reputation, listed firms, social costs

Cloud Accounting and the Quality of Financial Reports of Selected Banks in Nigeria (Published)

This study investigated the effect of cloud computing on the quality of financial reports in selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. Software as a service (Saas) and Infrastructure as a service (Iaas), were the cloud computing proxies employed to ascertain their effect on financial reporting quality. Financial reporting quality (FRQT) was measured in terms of qualitative characteristics of financial report as provided by IASB conceptual framework.  The research design adopted in this study was survey design because the data used was primary. The population of the study consisted of 450 respondents drawn from the ten different deposit money banks in Akwa Ibom State. However, the sample size of this study was 212 determined using Taro Yamane formula. Primary data were obtained through Likert 5-points structured questionnaire. In order to examine the cause-effect relationships between the dependent variable and independent variables as well as to test the formulated hypotheses, the study relied on a robust OLS regression analysis. The results obtained from the robust OLS regression analysis revealed that software has a statistically positive but insignificant effect on the financial reporting quality; infrastructure has a statistically positive and significant effect on the financial reporting quality. Thus, we concluded that cloud computing has significant effect on the financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Based, on these findings, we recommended that banks should adopt cloud computing to accelerate innovation, drive business agility, streamline cost and most importantly increase the financial reporting quality.

 

Keywords: Financial reports, Nigeria, Quality, cloud accounting, selected banks

Audit Committee and Audit Report Lag: Moderating Role of Ownership Concentration of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria (Published)

This study examines the moderating role of ownership concentration on the effect of audit characteristics on audit report lag of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The ex-post facto research design was adopted, secondary data was extracted from annual reports and accounts of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The population of the study is twenty-one (21) and the sample size consist of fifteen (15) for ten years (2012-2021). Six (6) companies were flitter out from the study due the technical suspension by NXG during the period of study. Census sample techniques were adopted. PCSEs regression model was employed as technique of data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the Audit Committee Size (ACS) and Audit Committee Meeting have a positive and significant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). Also, the Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE) revealed a positive and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL), while the Audit Committee Independence is established to have a negative and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). However, with consideration of moderating role ownership concentration, the Audit Committee Size (ACS) and Audit Committee Meeting (ACM) is found to have significant negative effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL), while the Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Audit Committee Independence are found to have a positive and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). The study concludes that ownership concentration moderates the effect of audit committee on Audit Report Lag. The study recommended that the management of the study firms should continue to sustain the frequency of meetings and size or numbers of the committee in their respective audit committee since the two committee have been empirically proven to have significantly reduced the timeframe of reporting their financial reports.

Keywords: Audit Committee, Audit Report lag, Consumer goods firms, Nigeria, Ownership concentration

Effect of Prospect Factor and Herding Effect on Individual Investment Performance in Nigeria: Moderating Role of Financial Literacy (Published)

Investors exhibit irrational behavior when making an investment decision. The decision-making process itself is considered to be a cognitive process, as the investors have to make a decision based on various alternatives available to them. Prior studies had shown that the investors’ decision-making was adversely affected by the various behavioral factors. This study was carried forward to identify the moderating role of financial literacy (FL) on the effect of prospect factor (PF) and herding effect (HE) on investment performance. The population of study was 3,706 and the sample size was the active investors resident in Kaduna metropolitan within the first quarter of 2023. Thus, 460 structured questionnaires were administered and 349 were returned valid. A convenient sampling technique was adopted in this study, and a primary data was collected from the respondents using both the online Google form and self-administered questionnaire with the help of research assistants. A 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from ‘1’ “Extremely Agree” to ‘7’ “Extremely Disagree” was employed. Smart-PLS 4 and SPSS 20 version was used to analyses the data and explained the demographic characteristics of the individual respectively. Findings from this study revealed that prospect factor and financial literacy have positive and significant influence on individual investment performance, while the herding effect is found to have a negative and insignificant influence on individual investment performance. Furthermore, the moderating role of financial literacy revealed that prospect factor and herding effect have an insignificant negative effect on individual investment performance. The study recommends that individual investors should have high levels of financial literacy. It has been empirically proven that FL help investors make better investment decision, in addition to satisfaction in their investment performance. Also, the investors should maintain the use of prospect behavioral biases when making investment decision as it has improved investment performance.

Keywords: Financial literacy, Nigeria, herding effect, investment performance, prospect factor

Scholastic Analysis of the Impact of Digital Technologies on the Accountancy Profession in Nigeria (Published)

The study investigated the effect of digital technologies adoption in the accounting profession. It surveyed the perspectives of experts on the impacts of digital technologies on the accounting profession. The impacts on skills, tasks and work environment as well as the challenges of adoption of digital technologies by accountants in Nigeria were studied. The descriptive survey was used for the study. 127 certified accounting experts in Akwa Ibom State were sampled for the survey. The researcher developed instrument titled “Digital technologies and Accounting Professionals Questionnaire” was used for data collection. The study made use of primary data. Accounting experts were interviewed and questionnaire administered to ascertain their opinion on the penetration, impacts and potential effects of digital technologies on the accounting profession. The instrument was validated by three experts in the Department of accounting, Akwa Ibom State University. Thereafter, the instrument was trial tested for reliability using the test retest method on 20 respondents. The data collated was tested through Pearson product moment correlation, which gave a value of .88. this was deemed good enough and the instrument was then deemed fit for the study. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were used for answering the research questions while simple linear regression was used to test the hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study showed that the digital technologies impacting the accounting professions are artificial intelligence, enterprise resource planning, internet of things (IoT), blockchain technology, cloud accounting technology and big data analysis. It was also established that digital technology adoption has a significant positive effect on the changes in the accountancy profession in Nigeria. Also, emerging digital technologies adoption will significantly predict the nature of skills in the accountancy profession in Nigeria. it was recommended that in order to keep adding value for the company, accountants need to developed new skills and acquire new knowledge regarding the use of artificial intelligence and other digital solutions in modern business environment. There is highlighted the need of all employees (including accountants) for development of critical thinking and problem solving, high level of adaptability, flexibility and interpersonal interaction; it is required to learn continuously.

Keywords: Accountancy, Nigeria, Profession, digital technologies, scholastic analysis

Green Accounting Practices and Shareholders’ Value of Listed Consumer Goods Companies in Nigeria (Published)

The severity of environmental degradation has its adverse impact on the quality of lives. Measures are being taken both at the national and international level to reduce and mitigate its impact on the environment, social, economic, and political sphere. This study investigated the effect of green accounting practices on shareholders’ value in Nigeria by drawing samples from listed consumer goods firms on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group from 2012 to 2021. Ex post facto design was used, secondary data were employed and least square dummy variable regression was used in analyzing the data. A sample size of 20 companies were determined using Tato Yamane formula and these companies were selected using simple random sampling technique. Green accounting being the dependent variable was proxied by biodiversity disclosure, emission disclosure, waste disclosure, water & effluents disclosure, and compliance to environmental laws & regulations disclosure. The dependent variable of this study was shareholders’ value proxied by shareholders’ value added (SHVA). The result showed that biodiversity disclosure and compliance to environmental laws disclosures have a positive significant effect on shareholders’ value added; water & effluents disclosures have a positive significant effect on shareholders’ value added of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria during the period under study. It was thus concluded that green accounting practices have significant effect on shareholders’ value added of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Therefore, it was recommended among others that compliance to green accounting practices should be made mandatory for all companies because standard green accounting disclosures are signals to all stakeholders that the companies are ‘green’ and eco- friendly companies and this in turn boost shareholders value.

Keywords: Companies, Nigeria, green accounting practices, listed consumer goods, shareholders’ value

Effect of Corporate Governance on Financial Performance of Quoted Commercial Banks in Nigeria (Published)

This study investigates the impact of corporate governance on the financial performance of Nigeria’s publicly traded commercial banks. The objective of this study is to determine if board size, board female gender, and board independence have effect on the financial performance of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria. Five (5) quoted commercial banks in Nigeria was examined, ranging from the years 2011 to 2020. Secondary data was used and obtained from the bank’s annual reports published in Nigeria Exchange Group. Cross-Sectional research design was used, and the method of data analysis used was panel multiple regression. Findings revealed  that board independence has a significant impact on financial performance ( return on assets) of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria but  shows  negative  relationship with financial performance  ( return on  assets)  of  quoted commercial banks, study further revealed that board size has a negative relationship with  bank’s financial performance (return on assets) but has  significant value  on  the  financial performance (return on assets) , findings also  revealed that at least two female board members were represented in every corporate organization studied,  female board membership has a positive relationship with banks’ financial performance (Return on Assets), but shows  insignificant value on financial performance (return on assets). The study concluded and recommended that, despite some of the independent variables shows insignificant values, Board independent, Board size, Board female gender mechanisms continue to be a critical component of corporate governance in achieving any organization’s objectives, financial or otherwise.

Citation: Orumwense E.K. and Orumwense O. (2023) Effect of Corporate Governance on Financial Performance of Quoted Commercial Banks in Nigeria, European Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance Research, Vol.11, No. 4, pp.1-14

 

Keywords: Banks’, Board Composition, Corporate, Governance, Nigeria, financial crisis

Board Size And Retained Earnings of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria (Published)

The study examined board size and retained earnings of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to ascertain the relationship between board size and retained earnings of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design, covering the period between 2010 and 2019. Secondary data were extracted from the annual reports and accounts of sampled deposit money banks in Nigeria. Total assets, total deposits, statutory reserves, and number of branches, were the control variables of the study. Multiple regression and covariance analysis were used for data analysis. The covariance analysis revealed that total asset (p-value < 0.05), total deposit (p-value < 0.05), and number of branches (p-value < 0.05) have a strong and positive relationship with retained earnings (80% approx., 78% approx., 64% approx. respectively). Statutory reserve (p-value < 0.05) and board size (p-value < 0.05) have a strong and negative relationship with retained earnings of deposit money banks in Nigeria with the following coefficients Statutory reserve 73% and board size 53% approx. The findings imply that as a total asset, total deposits, and the number of branches are increasing, the banks’ retained earnings also increase significantly and vice versa. On the other hand, as statutory reserve and board size are increasing, banks’ retained earnings decrease significantly. Hence, these variables can be used to predict and make decisions on retained earnings of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study, therefore, recommends that deposit money banks in Nigeria should keep a small or moderate board size since an increase in board size affects their retained earnings negatively.

Keywords: Board size, Deposit Money Banks, Nigeria, Total Asset, number of branches, retained earnings, statutory reserve, total deposit