(Department of Accounting, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, 2012-08-10) Odia, James; Ogiedu, Killian Osikhena
In July 2003, the NABS Acts was passed requiring companies all
companies listed in Nigeria to use the Statement of Accounting
Standards (SAS)for their financial reporting in fiscal years after that
date. This paper investigates whether the mandatory application of
Statement of Accounting Standards(SAS) by listed companies in
Nigeria is associated with less earnings management, higher
accounting quality and value relevance . The sample comprises 26
listed companies which were randomly selected from the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period 2003 to 2005. Using multiple
regression analysis, it was found that for companies that apply SAS
after the mandatory requirement there were little or no evidence of
improvement in accounting quality. Moreover, for companies which
apply SAS there is little or no evidence of improvement in accounting
quality and the value relevance of accounting in the post- SAS