Gulf Journal of Economics & Trade

Impact of cloud accounting financial reporting quality of commercial banks in Nigeria

2026-01-01T09:42:53+00:00

The study examined the effect of cloud accounting on financial reporting quality of commercial banks in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to examine the effect of cloud accounting infrastructure and cloud accounting software on earnings quality of listed commercial banks in Nigeria. This study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The population of this study comprised the thirteen (13) commercial banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) as at 2024. Purposive sampling was employed to select the seven (7) banks that made up the sample constituents, with the selection criterion being that the bank must possess an international authorization. Secondary data were obtained from the audited annual reports and financial statements of the sampled commercial banks covering the period 2015 to 2024. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values of all variables. Test of hypotheses was conducted using panel least squares regression at 5% significance level. The study found the following: cloud accounting infrastructure has a positive but non-significant effect on earnings quality (β = 1.5606, p = 0.2233); cloud accounting software has a significant negative effect on earnings quality (β = -34.9358, p = 0.0371). the study concluded that, cloud accounting, significantly affect earnings quality while transformative, is not inherently beneficial or harmful to earnings quality; its real effect depends on how it is deployed, managed, and aligned with the broader objectives of truthful and reliable financial reporting in practice. Given that cloud accounting software demonstrated a significant negative effect on earnings quality, it is recommended that software developers and vendors providing cloud accounting solutions undertake a comprehensive review of their software’s functionalities, interface, and error-handling capabilities which should focus on identifying features or processes that may lead to data inconsistencies, misclassifications, or reporting delays, and redesigning them to enhance transparency and accuracy.

Keywords: Cloud Accounting, Financial Reporting Quality, Cloud Accounting Infrastructure, Cloud Accounting Software, Earnings Quality.

Board diversity and earnings management: Moderating role of financial constraints in Nigeria listed food and beverages companies

2026-01-01T10:39:29+00:00

This study examined the moderating role of financial constraints on the effect of board diversity on real earnings management among listed Food and Beverages Companies in Nigeria. Specifically, it aimed to ascertain the moderating effect of short-term liquidity constraints on the relationship between board independence, board size, and board gender diversity and real earnings management. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design, with a population of sixteen (16) listed Food and Beverages firms, from which twelve (12) were purposively selected. Secondary data were collected from the annual reports of the firms over a ten-year period that spanned 2015–2024. Data were collected from the annual reports and financial statements of the sampled firms and analyzed using the Fixed Effect Model (FEM) regression technique to test the formulated hypotheses at 5% significance level. The findings revealed that: short-term liquidity constraints positively moderate the effect of board independence on real earnings management (β = 8.20, p = 0.0001) at 5% significance level; short-term liquidity constraints negatively moderate the effect of board size on real earnings management (β = -0.29, p = 0.0006) at 5% significance level; short-term liquidity constraints negatively moderate the effect of board gender diversity on real earnings management (β = -9.89, p = 0.0000) at 5% significance level. The study concluded that financial constraints play a critical role in shaping how board characteristics influence earnings management practices, emphasizing the need for improved liquidity management and board composition to enhance financial transparency in Nigeria’s food and beverages sector. It was recommended that regulators and company shareholders should ensure that independent directors receive specialized training on financial distress indicators and ethical financial reporting. This will help them better recognize and resist pressures to engage in earnings manipulation during times of financial difficulty, thereby improving oversight effectiveness.

Keywords: Board Diversity, Earnings Management, Financial Constraints.

Effect of corporate social responsibility disclosure on financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria

2026-01-08T06:26:24+00:00

The study examined the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure on financial reporting quality (FRQ) of listed commercial banks in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of various dimensions of CSR disclosure such as Environmental CSR (ECSR), Social CSR (SCSR), and Board Gender Diversity (BGD), on the financial reporting quality of listed banks in Nigeria. Alongside these variables, the study employed firm size (FSIZE) and return on assets (ROA) as control variables. The study covered a period of 10 years ranging from 2015–2024. The study employed descriptive and inferential statistical tools in analyzing the secondary data sourced from the annual and sustainability reports of the sampled banks. The hypotheses stated were tested using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model. The study findings revealed that ECSR, SCSR, BGD, FSIZE, and ROA maintained weak and statistically insignificant relationships with financial reporting quality of listed banks in Nigeria. The study concluded that despite theoretical emphasis on the importance of CSR disclosure in improving financial transparency and reducing information asymmetry, these variables were found to have limited direct effects on financial reporting quality in the Nigerian banking context.

Keywords: Financial Reporting Quality, CSR Disclosure, Firm Size, Return on Assets.