Abstract

The study examines whether the quality of international Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) based published financial information in Nigeria increased in the post-IFRS era. The study examines the quality of IFRS-based financial reports in improving the information required from financial statements. In other words, it evaluates the quality of published financial reports after IFRS adoption in Nigeria using annual reports of 87 non-financial companies for 10 years (2007-2016). We find that information provided in post-IFRS published financial statements is of higher value to investors/shareholders. The result was confirmed using trend analysis of and pre-and post-IFRS adjusted R², which confirm that public financial statements in the post-IFRS era have increased value relevance. These findings imply that adopting IFRS in Nigeria is justifiably undertaken as the objective of possible channelling funds, for investment purposes, to the right channel is achieved. The finding indicates positive changes after IFRS adoption. Based on these findings, we recommend that the Nigerian Financial Reporting Council, Stock Exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission and other relevant authorities in the country should ensure compliance with the ethos of IFRS adoption to ensure that the improved quality of financial reporting achieved is consistently maintained.

Key words: IFRS, accounting information, value relevance, accounting data, N-GAAP.