Abstract

 This paper examines the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Nigeria that started since January, 2012; and how far the Nigerian government via the Financial Reporting Council has gone in the transition of Nigerian local GAAP (SAS) to International GAAP (IFRS).The study examined and identified the benefits that Nigeria and Nigerians gained so far as a result of convergence into IFRS; the bottlenecks that paralyze the full percentage of the transition as well examined the techniques taken by Nigeria in making sure a smooth, successful and amicable implementation of the three stages of convergence.In the course of this study the study observed vividly that Nigeria has gained a lot from the convergence because most of its local financial expertise are now turned into International expertise as well as International financial consultants, thus, convergence has increase the level of employment in the country.The main drawbacks of the transition is amendments of Nigerian tax laws, because tax laws are among the most complicated laws in accounting arena; weak compliance and enforcement mechanisms by Financial Reporting Council. As a manner of recommendation, for Nigerian government to gain more from dividend of convergence there is need to increase the time period for the on-going transition because implementation of certain requirements of International Standards like IFRS successfully should be in a gradual and careful process not just three years, because convergence to IFRS is not just an Accounting and Taxation exercises but a total and complete transition that requires every stakeholders concerned to learn a new technical language as well as new modes of working with a new standard.
Highlights
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa; with over 168.8 million people according to World Bank report of 2012
From the study we can understand that before the convergence to implementation of these standards (IFRS) Nigeria already has its own local standard called Statement of Accounting Standard ruled by Nigerian Accounting Standard Board, but Nigeria agreed to abandoned its own standard and embrace the worldwide standard on Thursday 2nd September, 2010 and reshaped the Nigerian Accounting Standard Board into Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in order to fulfilled the requirement of International Reporting Standard Board
From the study we can deduce that Nigeria agreed to implement the new standard but in three consecutive periods: form 1st January, 2012 for listed companies in Nigeria and significant public entities followed on 1st January, 2013, by Public Interest Entities (PIE), and on 1st January, 2014 by Small and Medium Enterprises respectively
Summary
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa; with over 168.8 million people according to World Bank report of 2012. The major issues to be address for the successful implementation for IFRS in Nigeria are discussed under the following headings: I.Accounting Issues II.Tax related Issues III.Operational issues IV.Treasury Management Issues 4.1Accounting Issues KPMG (2010) raised some top accounting issues which have an implication for enterprise –wide more importantly for retail and manufacturing companies as Nigeria is converging from local GAAP to the international GAAP, Which is unique global standards, called IFRS. These issues are as follows: a.Revenues recognition: In Nigerian local standard called Statement of Accounting Standard (SAS) revealed no specific revenue recognition, while many organizations in the world borrowed from principles based of IFRS. Revaluation of fixed If an item of property, plant An entire class of assets can be revalued, Assets and equipment is revalued, or selection of assets for revaluation can the entire class of assets to be made on a systematic basis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
