Thesis (MSc) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Accounting and Finance Department

Includes bibliography (sheets 31-34)

ABSTRACT
It is a widely known fact that financial reporting across the world has undergone
various forms of transformation over the years. In the very past times, countries
contextually adopted the use of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to
steer and guide financial reporting of companies. However, the need to have a more
unified capital market with a uniform reporting format necessitated the conception of
a new reporting standard; thus the creation and adoption of IFRS. IFRS was expected
to serve as a unifier of capital markets through the creation of a unified,
comprehensible, reliable and principled based set of standards to guide financial
reporting of companies across countries.
Literature has shown that the use of IFRS in reporting has had both positive and
negative impact on Earnings Management under different geographical context. Thus,
this study therefore sought to determine the impact of IFRS on Earnings Management
in a sub-Saharan context, specifically Nigeria. Given that IFRS was adopted in Nigeria
in 2012, data was collected from secondary source (Eikon Database) on 188 listed
companies over a twenty (20) year period; 10 years before and after IFRS adoption.
Out of the 188 listed companies, 158 were used in the analysis as the 30 couldn’t meet
the requisite data requirement for the analysis. STATA statistical software was
employed in the analysis of the data.
Findings from the study showed that leverage, equity and Total Accruals decreased
following the adoption of IFRS. Descriptive statistics also showed that IFRS had
had a negative impact on Earnings Management. This finding is ably supported
by literature.
Keywords: Earnings Management, Generally Accepted Accounting Standards,
International Financial Reporting Standards