Corporate Attributes and Financial Reporting Quality of Listed Information Communication Technology Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

The demand for high quality financial information is increasing. It has become imperative in a developing economy such as Nigeria, especially in the information communication technology (ICT) sector due to globalisation and expansion of businesses beyond the national borders. Accordingly, companies are obliged to satisfy the information needs of both local and foreign investors by providing them with relevant and comparable financial reports. The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of corporate attributes on financial reporting quality of ICT firms listed on the floor of Nigeria Exchange Group from 2013-2022. The independent variable of the study being corporate attributes was proxied by firm size, firm age, firm profitability, auditor type and assets tangibility while the dependent variable being financial reporting quality was measured using the IASB Conceptual Framework qualitative characteristic model. The research design adopted in this study was ex post facto, secondary data was used and the population of study was 11 listed ICT firms in Nigeria. The hypotheses of the study was tested using pool ordinary least square technique and the statistical package employed was E-views version 10. From the outcome of the analysis, it was found out that firm size has a significant but negative effect on the financial reporting quality; firm age has an insignificant negative effect on the financial reporting quality; firm profitability has a negative and insignificant effect on the financial reporting quality; auditor type has significant positive effect on financial reporting quality; firm asset tangibility has a significant but negative effect on the financial reporting quality of ICT firms in Nigeria. Thus, it was concluded that corporate attributes enhance financial reporting quality of firms in Nigeria. Based on the foregoing, it was recommended among others that the management of ICT firms should carefully select reputable and experienced audit firms to enhance the credibility and reliability of their financial statements. More also, ICT firms should reduce the amount of tangible non-current assets in their assets base as they have negative influence on financial reporting quality.