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The main objective of this study is to investigate whether adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) improve the quality of financial reporting in Nigeria. Financial reporting quality was measured in terms of fundamental qualitative characteristics such as relevance and faithful representation and enhancing qualitative characteristics such as understandability, comparability, verifiability, and timeliness as contained in the conceptual framework. The study was conducted on a sample of 162 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. A compound measurement tool in form of an index was developed to comprehensively assess the quality of financial reporting based on information disclosed in the financial statement of the selected companies. From both univariate and multivariate analysis, I found strong evidence suggesting that accounting standard used in the preparation of financial statement have significant influence on the quality of financial report of the reporting entity. The result persists for all the three models (overall financial reporting quality, fundamental, and enhancing qualitative characteristics) tested in this analysis. The result also revealed that apart from firm age and firm growth, most of the firm-specific variables investigated have statistically significant influence on the financial reporting quality.

Introduction: In the context of globalisation processes, the necessity to create appropriate information support for management decisions at various levels becomes increasingly important: at the international, national and enterprise levels. The source of such data is financial reporting. The last leads to increase attention from key users (investors, lenders, other users) to the reliability and quality of financial reporting data. The study of scientific literature and best foreign practices made it possible to identify problems of the theoretical, organisational and methodological background of preparing high-quality financial statements and their assessment, particularly the lack of a unified interpretation of the financial reporting quality concept. The necessity to identify a theoretical basis for assessing financial reporting quality has led to the relevance of this study.

Aim: Scientific substantiation and improvement of theoretical provisions of methodology development for financial reporting quality assessment.

Methods used within the study are the following: Analysis, synthesis, operational approach, bibliographic analysis, generalisation.

Findings: The application of an operational approach to the formulation of the definition of financial reporting quality has made it possible to create the basis for its assessment. This approach involves descriptions of the principles of clarity and uniformity. The authors define the concept of ‘financial reporting quality’, formulating the theoretical principles for financial reporting assessment as the process of establishing compliance of financial statements with a specific list of qualitative characteristics.

Global interest in adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has risen rapidly; however, the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries have reacted differently towards the international diffusion. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the IFRS adoption/rejection decision on the quality of MENA region firms' financial reporting.

The quality of accounting is examined through five metrics models to measure earnings smoothing, managing earnings towards a target and timely loss recognition. The research sample consists of nine countries over a period of ten years (2006–2015), resulting in 3,040 firm-year observations in the main phase, and 2,580 firm-year observations in the additional analysis.

The findings reveal that the overall sample of IFRS adopters in the MENA region has benefited from the adoption of IFRS, as the results show that there is a reduction in earnings management for IFRS adopters in comparison to local standards adopters. The sub-sample analyses also reveal that firms that adopted IFRS, in both the rentier (oil-dependent states) and non-rentier states, have a higher financial reporting quality than non-IFRS adopters. However, the magnitude of the financial reporting quality was higher for IFRS adopters in rentier states.

Similarly to previous research in this field, this study adopts a strict sample selection approach. Such an approach may limit the sample size, although the researchers have taken every possible step to ensure the use of an adequate sample size. The researchers acknowledge the strict period of ten years, despite having stated its rationale and importance of a more extended period to the quest of the paper.

This research provides valuable input by evaluating the current status of MENA region firms' financial reporting quality, based on their followed accounting regime. The implications of this paper result in better-informed decisions for investors as the information contents of the annual reports enhance comparisons that facilitate the further flow of investments. This research also provides significant insight into the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The findings of this study will assist the IASB in understanding the MENA region by measuring the consequences of the countries' decisions on the quality of firms' financial reporting.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature by revealing that countries with medium levels of governance quality have benefited the most from the IFRS adoption, while IFRS adopters in countries with stronger governance quality demonstrate lower financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between a firm's internal audit function (IAF) and the quality of its financial reporting. Since regulations on corporate governance were introduced, numerous national and international bodies have emphasized the fundamental role of the IAF in the financial reporting process, especially since it generally leads to higher quality reporting.

The paper uses questionnaires sent to internal audit directors of Spanish banks.

Banks with high quality financial reporting have greater collaboration between internal and external auditors in the annual audit. Greater involvement of internal audit in reviewing financial reporting leads to improved quality financial reporting.

Besides the usual caveats of survey research, there are limitations to this study. First, the problem of response bias may exist. Second, the 66 per cent survey response rate may mean that respondents have larger or better‐developed internal audit functions, affording them more opportunity or motivation to respond to the survey. Hence, the results obtained through the survey may not be generalizable to non‐respondents.

The findings are relevant for bank regulators, management, boards of directors, and investors. In the current discussion on transparency, integrity and quality of financial reporting, these findings help define the issues.

Previous empirical studies analyse the quality of financial reporting with actors in the corporate governance mosaic (board of directors, audit committee and external audit), but they do not do so directly with the IAF. This paper extends prior banking literature that analyses quality financial reporting along with other variables, but not internal audit.

The purpose of this study is to test the determinant of financial report quality and its consequences to the company values.

This research is using a quantitative approach and testing a theory by formulating some hypotheses. The sample of this study is 85 go public companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange, for a 5-year observation period from 2016 to 2020. Hence, it has a total of 425 observations. Data were analyzed using path analysis.

The results found that innate factors from financial reporting quality (FRQ) consists of dynamic factors (operation cycle and sales volatility) as well as static factors (firm’s size, FS). These factors help to achieve FRQ and are able to provide a positive response to the market. On the other hand, static factors (firm’s age, FA) and institution risk factors (leverage) are not able to produce FRQ. Thus, it cannot be considered as an economic decision maker for an investor.

Research implications include theoretical and practical implications. Theoretical implications prove that the valuation of clean surplus theory, which shows the market value of the company, is reflected in the components of the financial statements. This study also uses more than one quality of financial reporting. The practical implication of the research is that the research results are expected to provide information for the company’s management, to fulfill quality financial reporting and so that the market or investors will respond positively to these conditions. In addition, quality financial reporting information provides benefits for investors and capital market analysts (consisting of investors, brokers and market securities analysts) in determining investment decisions. The Financial Services Authority is also able to improve the implementation of corporate governance practices in Indonesia, through reform of the framework supervision of the financial services sector.

This research examines the determinants of FRQ and its consequences on firm’s value (FV). Innate factors proxies from FRQ include dynamic factors (operation cycle and sales volatility), static factors (FS and FA) and institution risk factors (leverage). A follow-up study on the value of the company because it shows the magnitude of the market response (financial statement users) on the quality of financial reporting, which is reflected in FV, the originality of this research is that the object of research is carried out in developing countries, specifically in Indonesia, because most of the previous research was carried out in developed countries.

The current paper aims at exploring the audit committee characteristics’ effect on impression management.

The methodology is based on the use of the content analysis of financial annual reports, as data of a 69-company sample study from 2015 to 2019 attained from “Amman Stock Exchange” has been analyzed. Moreover, multiple regression analysis on panel data was employed.

The results show that the independence of the audit committee, the financial expertise of the audit committee and female members negatively affect impression management, implying that these characteristics mitigate financial reporting manipulation and decrease the practices of impression management. However, the findings detect no significant influence for committee meetings on impression management.

Notably, the current work is applicable and useful for understanding the audit committee’s role in enhancing the financial reporting’s quality, along with the significance of the audit committee in growing the stakeholder’s confidence in financial reporting. In light of these results, regulatory bodies’ efforts are encouraged to create additional strategies and instructions to ensure the trustiness and credibility of financial reporting.

This paper will be useful to companies that want to improve the quality of financial reporting and decrease the impression of management’s effect on financial reporting’s readers. Moreover, this paper contributes to the literature on impression management by exploring the effect of audit committees on impression management of annual financial reports of the users in the context of emerging markets and Middle East countries, particularly Jordan.

This study aims to analyze the effect of audit findings and audit recommendations follow-up on the quality of financial reports and the quality of public services in the context of applying accrual accounting systems to local government in Indonesia. This study also examines whether the quality of the financial report affects the quality of public services.

This study employed cross-sectional regression using data from 1,437 observations from 491 districts/cities for 2014–2016. The data illustrates the conditions prior to the adoption of the accrual accounting system (2014), the initial year of application/transition period (2015) and the second year of the expected accrual accounting system (2016).

The results of the study indicate that, in general, the quality of financial reports affects the quality of public services. Regarding the implementation of audits in the public sector, it is also found that audit findings have a negative impact on the quality of financial report and the quality of public services, while audit recommendations follow-up plays a positive role in improving the quality of financial report and the quality of public services.

The implication of the results of this study is closely related to the efforts to realize the ultimate goal of the recent government reforms. In order to increase the quality of public services in the era of higher report requirements through an accrual accounting system, the government should focus on the quality of financial reports, audit findings and the audit recommendations follow-up.

This study provides new insight on the link between the public sector auditing and the quality of accounting in accrual implementation context and the quality of public services.

The mandatory adoption/convergence of IFRS has increased the information quality of reported earnings in equity markets across the globe. The purpose of the study is to explore whether the mandatory convergence of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) affect the financial reporting quality of listed firms in India.

The sample includes 355 non-financial publicly listed firms on National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India with 1,065 firm-year observations. The authors use models similar to Jones (1991), and DeFond and Jiambalvo (1994) to investigate value relevance in the period “1st January 2017 to 31st December 2019”. The study uses the quantile regression (QR) analysis to verify our hypothesis.

The findings suggest that IFRS convergence process adds value to accounting quality of reported earnings in Indian stock market. The authors' QR estimations produce collaborating evidence on the uneven impact of IFRS across quantiles and the financial reporting quality skewed in favour of investors of high-valued firms.

The effects of convergence with IFRS in value relevance of financial statements could be reinforced by considering alternate accrual models and incorporating more accounting measures on an expanded sample of stocks from several global markets.

Presently, convergence of local accounting standards to IFRS in India is only partial. The findings may produce useful insights for regulators and standard setters to further increase the value relevance of financial reports whilst they move towards full convergence.

The study explores the information quality of reported earnings of Indian listed firms in post-IFRS convergence period, which is not properly investigated in the literature. Moreover, the research is unique in terms of applying QR estimations to examine the value relevance of IFRS-converged financial reporting from the emerging market perspective.

The purpose of this study is to measure the financial reporting quality of 38 main countries (regions) in the world from 2000 to 2014.

This paper uses six accounting and auditing indicators to construct a comprehensive index for the measurement of country-level financial reporting quality. To test the validity of the methodology, the index to test institutional impacts on national financial reporting quality is used.

It was found that the results are consistent with the predictions and previous studies. The evidence suggests that the quality measure in this paper is innovative and appropriate and can provide a useful tool for researchers who are concerned with financial reporting quality at the country level.

The study is the first in the literature to use both accounting and auditing data to construct financial reporting quality indicators. The study should help international investors assess investment risks in foreign financial markets so as to make an informed decision. In addition, the diversity of financial reporting practices documented in the paper should prompt market regulators, accounting standard setters and professional accounting bodies to reinforce the efforts on international convergence of accounting and financial reporting standards and practices.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the ownership of institutional shareholders, the proportion of non-executive members, the percentage of ownership of major shareholders, the duality of the tasks of chief executive officer and chairman of the board of director, financial leverage, the amount of the remuneration of the board of director, the company’s life and the amount of export on internet financial reporting.

For this purpose, the authors surveyed the 301 listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange in 2015. The statistical method used to test the hypothesis of the study was cross-sectional data.

The results indicate the negative impact of ratio of non-executive members and the positive impact of financial leverage, size, liquidity and the life of the company in stock, over internet financial reporting.

The current study is almost the first study which is conducted in a developing country, and the results may helpful to the other developing nations.