The relationship subsisting between board structure of corporate organizations and earnings management has attracted several concerns particularly to regulatory agencies, management, accounting practitioners and researchers alike. Therefore, this study, examined the extent to which board independence and size influence the level of earnings management of publicly quoted Nigerian firms. For this purpose, the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the age of firms were introduced as mediating variables. Secondary data were however pooled from the financial statements of ninety-two (92) firms cutting across ten (10) industrial sectors from 2007–2018 (12 years). The regression analysis amidst other relevant statistical techniques was adopted to analyze the collated pooled data. Evidence from our result indicates that with the introduction of IFRS adoption and firm age as mediating variables, the Fcal obtained was 1.72 (p-value = 0.1424), thus indicating that the size of boards and the presence of independent directors (board independence) in corporate boards could not significantly influence the level of earnings management in Nigerian firms. We therefore recommend that in order to regulate managements’ opportunistic behavior/earnings management, regulators and stakeholders who are charged with the task of performing oversight functions on the activities of management should lay more emphasis on ensuring that preparers of financial statements fully comply with the provisions of IFRS and other regulatory requirements for financial reporting.

This study examines the impact of expansion in non-oil sector on sustainable economic growth of Nigeria economy. The study sourced data from the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin covering the periods of 2000 – 2019. An economic growth model was formulated using the study variables and the model was estimated using vector auto-regression  (VAR) techniques, other diagnostic tests such as  Roots of Characteristic Polynomial for VAR model stability, Augmented Dickey-Fuller test for time series stationarity, and granger causality tests were conducted to ensure the reliability of the model estimates. The analysis revealed that the estimated model is stable while the VAR and variance decomposition results shows that real gross domestic product is strongly endogenous in the short run but weakly endogenous in the long run. Further findings suggest that in the long run non-oil sector is strongly endogenous to real gross domestic product (92% contribution). The study, therefore, recommends diversification of the Nigerian economy by focusing more attention on agriculture, solid minerals, and service sectors as they tend to influence economic growth in the long run. More so, improved frameworks of accounting in areas of non-oil revenues are desirable for the accountancy profession.

No abstract

This study provides multi-disciplinary assessment of coronavirus pandemic transmission in Nigeria, magnitude of confirmed cases, recoveries, deaths, and inventory of infected person with recovery lags. It applied the statistical outcomes in predicting spilling over to subsequent periods. It identifies economic sectors worst hit by COVID-19 triggered recession, simulate the estimates of potential fiscal and other macroeconomic impact of the pandemic in the country in short run alongside synthesis of restoration and sustainability strategies. Secondary data relating to coronavirus infection cases, spreads, recoveries and fatalities were assessed, using the susceptible-infected-recovered” (SIR) model in absence of mass testing and probable cessation from health crisis management. It identified economic sectors/activities being devastated by COVID-19 induced recession, provides interim estimates adverse impact based on economic peak and down-turn cycle method. The study also measured the magnitude of macroeconomic shocks in Nigeria’s economy using a standard global computable general equilibrium model and exploration of sustainability strategies based on synthesis of extant reports were employed. These data-sets were obtained from the Nigerian sources and partly from global sources. Furthermore, it utilized trend analysis derived from empirical data of extant daily confirmed cases, discharges and hospitalized person together with tentative projection of additional confirmed cases as from July–September, 2020. Results revealed that confirmed cases in Nigeria will increase steadily from 25694 (in June) to around 74825 by the end September and expected to reach 121000 by end of year 2020. This suggests that the pandemic is likely to persist up to the second quarter of 2021. Education, transport (aviation), hospitality, tourism and sports businesses; trade (informal sector) in the services sector; petroleum exploration in mining sub-sector are most severely contracting activities industries in the economy. Given the prevailing intensity of recession, the result indicates that a reduction of about 5-to-7% in GDP will be recorded in 2020. Result of variance analysis of fiscal budget estimates indicates adverse increase of -2% or more in overall fiscal deficit balances during the periods, which may aggravate debt burden with decline of about -5.7 percent and up to -7 percent in nominal GDP. Health, education, agriculture, petroleum exploration; petroleum refining and petrochemical industries, manufacturing (particularly pharmaceuticals), energy and power generation should be given priority in the sustainability programme.

The study examined the effect of Human resource accounting (HRA) on the financial performance (return on assets-ROA) of selected quoted Nigerian food and beverages firms. Four of these firms were sampled from 2006-2021. The research analyzed the data generated using the panel regression analysis through the instrumentality of Econometric Views. The study evidenced that, staff trainings and development costs (STC) and welfare costs (EWC) improved firm performance significantly but staff safety cost did not. However, hiring cost has a negative significant effect on ROA of the targeted firms in Nigeria during the study periods. Hence, the paper concluded that human resource accounting is instrumental to higher firm performance. As such, the study recommends that management of selected firms should not see their staff trainings as a one-off thing instead they should conduct both off and on-the-job trainings on a regular basis.  Lastly, management of the targeted firms must ensure that their welfare package include both monetary and non-monetary compensation. Keywords: Human Resource Accounting, Financial Performance, Quoted Nigerian Food and Beverages Firms.