International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Transplanting and Convergence in Nigeria: Consequences and Prospects

Abstract

Accountancy profession across the world has been witnessing revolution for sometimes now, especially after thecase of Enron and Word com and the challenges to Auditing as profession. The profession has another breakingpoint in Nigeria in 2012 just like many other countries, IFRS transplanting and convergence, a standard that hasnot yet been adopted in the United States of America. The specific of objective of the paper is to evaluate theconsequences of the convergence in Nigeria with a view to pointing out what per adventure have not been doneright in the transplanting, suggest what should be done to enable the country derive the full benefits of thechange in the accounting regulation. The data are collected through primary data apparatus and cross sectionalsecondary data from the annual reports of the selected case studies. The methodology adopted is student-tdistribution. We also deployed descriptive statistics. The results from the descriptive statistics portend mixreactions. Most of the variables selected have both positive and negative signs; when it is positive, it means thatthe amount reported in the financial statements under GAAP is higher than that of IFRS and vice versa. Thestudent-t portends that at 5% confidence interval, there is significant difference between the figures reportedunder IFRS and GAAP, consequently the convergence of IFRS in Nigeria has offered invaluable benefits andsignificant effects. We however recommend that government should immediately review all the relevant sectionsin the local extant laws and review syllabus of accounting in tertiary institutions and secondary schools in orderto have the unity of purpose and derive optimum benefits in the convergence of IFRS in Nigeria.Keywords: Revolution, IFRS Transplanting, Convergence, Cross Sectional, Secondary Data, GAAP and MixReaction.