Value Relevance of Accounting Information and Firm Value: A Study of Consumer Goods Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria

Abstract

Studies on the improvement of value relevance of accounting information between IFRS and other accounting standards’ regimes as well as on value change after the adoption of IFRS have yielded mixed results. This study investigates the value relevance of accounting information of companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) using modified Ohlson model. The population of the study consists of all the 28 listed firms under the consumer goods sector. Judgmental sampling technique was used to select ten of the firms. Secondary data obtained from the annual reports of sampled firms were used to investigate the value relevance of accounting numbers. Content analysis was used to measure the qualitative values of accounting information (relevance, faithful representation, understandability, comparability and timeliness). The outcome of Hausman’s test favoured the use of pooled OLS. ANOVA test was also conducted. The findings showed that there is no significant difference between the value relevance of accounting information prior and after the adoption of IFRS. The study therefore, could not support the idea that global adoption of uniform standards lead to improvements in reporting quality. It was concluded that transition in standards from SAS to IFRS has no significant influence on the accounting information as a predictor of firm’s value.

Keywords: Value, Information, IFRS, Ohlson model, Accountants, Analyst