The Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework Implementation in Nigerian Listed Companies
Keywords:
Integrated reporting, company disclosures, Integrated Reporting framework, content elements, performance
Abstract
Research efforts have supported the need for multi-dimensional reporting that comprises of financial, non-financial, social and environmental components. This paper investigates the readiness of Nigeria to adopt Integrated Reporting (IR) by evaluating the level of compliance of the annual reports of quoted companies in Nigeria to IR framework as developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). A total of 90 companies from 170 quoted companies on Nigeria Stock Exchange were selected based on the criteria that the companies had available annual reports for the period 2013-2017, these companies had neither been delisted nor merged with other companies during the period of study. The annual reports of the selected 90 quoted companies from 2013-2017 were content analysed using the disclosure index developed by Kilic and Kuzey (2018) to measure the IR Disclosure Score (IRDS) of each of the sampled companies. It was found that Nigerian listed companies’ reports comply with about 75% of the IR framework requirements. The most compliant companies were in the financial sector, followed by manufacturing, extractive and other sectors. The least disclosed IR content element in all the sectors was performance. Companies were not able to articulate the extent which the objectives of the organisation was achieved using key performance indicators (KPIs) especially the connectivity between financial and non-financial performance disclosures. In order to drive IR adoption, regulatory authorities such as the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should provide needed support in the area of technical and infrastructural resources which would encourage early adoption of the IR framework in Nigeria.
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Lodhia, S. (2015). Exploring the transition to integrated reporting through a practice lens: an Australian customer owned bank
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Macias, H. A., & Farfan-Lievano, A. (2017). Integrated Reporting as a strategy for firm growth: Multiple case study in Colombia,
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McNally, M., Cerbone, D., & Maroun, W.(2017). Exploring the challenges of preparing an
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Melloni, G., Stacchezzini, R. & Lai, A. (2016). The tone of business model disclosure: An impression management nalysis of the
integrated reports, Journal of Management & Governance, 20 (2), 295-320
Mmako, N.,& Rensburg, J. M. (2017)Towards integrated reporting: The inclusion of content elements of an integrated annual
report in the chairmen’s statements of JSE-listed companies. South African Journal of Business Management, 48(1), 45-54
Nigerian Stock Exchange Fact Book (2017). Retrieved from Nigerian Stock Exchange website
Okaro, D. C., & Okafor, G.O. (2016). Integrated Reporting in Nigeria: The Present and Future. (Section from book) Responsible
Corporate Governance: Towards Sustainable and Effective Governance Structures , 247-263
Rivera-Arrubla, Y.A., Zorio-Grima, A. & García-Benau, M.A. (2017). Integrated reports: disclosure level and explanatory factors ,
Social Responsibility Journal, 13(1),155 – 176.
Robertson, F., & Samy, M. (2015). Factors affecting the diffusion of integrated reporting – a UK FTSE 100 perspective.
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 6(2), 190-223
Scot, W.R. (2012). Financial Accounting Theory, 6th ed. Pearson, Canada
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2959745DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2959745
Stent, W. & Dowler, T. (2015), “Early assessments of the gap between integrated reporting and current corporate reporting”,
Meditari Accountancy Research, 23 (1), 92-117
Steyn, M.(2014). Senior executives’ perspectives of integrated reporting regulatory regimes as a mechanism for advancing
sustainability in South African listed companies. Southern African Business Review, 18(3), 142-174
Stubbs, W. & Higgins, C. (2014). Integrated reporting and internal mechanisms of change. Accounting Auditing &
Accountability Journal, 1-39 DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-03-2013-1279
Tijani, O. M., Ogundeji, M. G., & Ajape,K.M. (2013). Integrated reporting: Another crisis of external dependence or a model for
sustainable capital allocation. European Journal of Globalization and Development Research, 8(1), 493-506
Trpeska, M., Lazarevska, Z. B., & Atanasovski, A. (2015)Towards integrated reporting: analysis of information published on
the companies’ websites that could be part of the integrated reporting. CEA Journal of Economics, 73-89 UDC 657.37:005.57]:004.738.5
Wild, S. & van Staden, C. (2013). Integrated Reporting: Initial analysis of early reporters – an institutional theory approach.
Paper presented at the Asia Pacific Interdisciplanary Research in Accounting Conference, Kobe, 26-28 July.
Adams, S. & Simnett, R. (2011). Integrated reporting: an opportunity for Australia’s not-for-profit sector. Australian Accounting Review, 21 (3), 292-301
Adeyemi, S. B. & Ayanlola, O. S. (2015). Regulatory perspective to the deepening of CSR disclosure practice in Nigeria. African
Journal of Business Management. 9(6), 270-287
Busco, C., Frigo, M.L., Quattrone, P. & Riccaboni, A. (2013). Redefining corporate accountability through integrated reporting:
what happens when values and value creation meet. Strategic Finance, 95 (2), 33-41
Cheng, M., Green,W., Conradie, P., Konishi, N., & Romi, N. (2014).The International Integrated Reporting Framework: Key
issues and future research opportunities. Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting,25(1),90-119.
De Villiers, C., Hsiao, P.-C.K. & Maroun, W. (2017). Developing a conceptual model of influences around Integrated Reporting,
new insights, and directions for future research. Meditari Accountancy Research, 25(4), 450-460.
De Villiers, C. & Maroun, W. (2017). Introduction to sustainability accounting and integrated reporting, In De Villiers, C &
Maroun, W. (Eds., 1-13) Sustainability accounting and integrated reporting, Routledge: Abingdon, UK.
Dumay, J., Bernardi, C., Guthrie, J. & Demartini, P. (2016). Integrated reporting: a structured literature review. Accounting
Forum, 40 (3), 166-185.
Dumay, J., Bernardi, C., Guthrie, J., & La Torre, M. (2017). Barriers to implementing the International Integrated Reporting
Framework: A contemporary academic perspective. Meditari Accountancy Research, MEDAR-05-2017-, 1-28
Eccles, R. G., Cheng, B., & Saltzman, D. (2010). The Landscape of Integrated Reporting: Reflections and next steps.
Massachusetts: Harvard Business School, The President and Fellows of Harvard College Cambridge.
Eccles, R. G., & Krzus, M. P. (2010). One report: Integrated reporting for a sustainable strategy.New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons.
Eccles, R.G., & Serafeim, G. (2014). Corporate and integrated reporting: A functional perspective. Working Paper,14-094,
Havard Business School
Eccles, R.G., & Serafeim, G. (2011). Accelerating the Adoption of Integrated Reporting. CSR Index, 70-92
Fasan, M. & Mio, C. (2017). Fostering stakeholder engagement: The role of materiality disclosure in integrated reporting.
Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(3), 288-305
Feng, T., Cummings, L. & Tweedie, D. (2017). Exploring integrated thinking in integrated reporting: an exploratory study in
Australia. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 18(2), 330-353
Flower, J. (2015). The International Integrated Reporting Council: A story of failure, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 27, 1–17
Frías-Aceituno, J.V., Rodríguez-Ariza, L. & García-Sánchez, I.M. (2013). Is integrated reporting determined by a country’s legal system? An exploratory study, Journal of Cleaner Production 44, 45-55.
Frias-Aceituno, J.V., Rodríguez-Ariza, L. & Garcia-Sánchez, I.M. (2014). Explanatory factors of integrated sustainability and
financial reporting, Business Strategy and the Environment, 23 (1), 56-72
García-Sánchez, I.M., Rodríguez-Ariza, L., & Frías-Aceituno, J.V. (2013). The cultural system and integrated reporting, International Business Review 22(5), 828-838.
Garcia-Sánchez, I.M. & Noguera-Gámez, L. (2017). Integrated reporting and stakeholder
engagement: the effect on information Asymmetry. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24 ( 5), 395-413
Havlová, K.( 2015 ) What integrated reporting changed: the case study of early adopters. Procedia Economics and Finance, 34,
231 – 237
Higgins, C., Stubbs, W., & Love ,T. (2014),Walking the talk(s): Organisational narratives of integrated reporting. Accounting,
Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(7), 1090 – 1119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2013-1303
IIRC (2013),The International
http://integratedreporting.org/resource/international-ir-framework/ Accessed on 8th March 2018
Imeokparia, L. (2009). Human resource accounting and intellectual capital reporting in developing countries: An empirical
study of Nigeria. Journal of Management and Enterpreneur, UNIPORT, 2(1), 138-146
Imeokparia, L. (2007). The extent of social and environmental reporting and disclosure by Nigerian organisaitons.
International Journal of Development and Management Review, 2(1), 137-147
Jensen, C., & Berg, N. (2012). Determinants of traditional sustainability reporting versus integrated reporting: an
institutionalist approach, Business Strategy and the Environment 21(5), 299-316
Kilic, M. & Kuzey, C. (2018). Determinants of forward-looking disclosures in integrated reporting, Managerial Auditing
Journal, doi.org/10.1108/MAJ-12-2016-1498
Lipunga, A. M. (2015).Integrated reporting in developing countries: evidence from Malawi. Journal of Management Research,
7(3), 130-156. Doi:10.5296/jmr.v7i3.7195
Lodhia, S. (2015). Exploring the transition to integrated reporting through a practice lens: an Australian customer owned bank
perspective. Journal of business ethics, 129(3), 585- 598
Macias, H. A., & Farfan-Lievano, A. (2017). Integrated Reporting as a strategy for firm growth: Multiple case study in Colombia,
Meditari Accountancy Research, 25(4),605-628
McNally, M., Cerbone, D., & Maroun, W.(2017). Exploring the challenges of preparing an
integrated report, Meditari Accountancy Research, 25(4),481-504, https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-10-2016-0085
Melloni, G., Stacchezzini, R. & Lai, A. (2016). The tone of business model disclosure: An impression management nalysis of the
integrated reports, Journal of Management & Governance, 20 (2), 295-320
Mmako, N.,& Rensburg, J. M. (2017)Towards integrated reporting: The inclusion of content elements of an integrated annual
report in the chairmen’s statements of JSE-listed companies. South African Journal of Business Management, 48(1), 45-54
Nigerian Stock Exchange Fact Book (2017). Retrieved from Nigerian Stock Exchange website
Okaro, D. C., & Okafor, G.O. (2016). Integrated Reporting in Nigeria: The Present and Future. (Section from book) Responsible
Corporate Governance: Towards Sustainable and Effective Governance Structures , 247-263
Rivera-Arrubla, Y.A., Zorio-Grima, A. & García-Benau, M.A. (2017). Integrated reports: disclosure level and explanatory factors ,
Social Responsibility Journal, 13(1),155 – 176.
Robertson, F., & Samy, M. (2015). Factors affecting the diffusion of integrated reporting – a UK FTSE 100 perspective.
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 6(2), 190-223
Scot, W.R. (2012). Financial Accounting Theory, 6th ed. Pearson, Canada
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2959745DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2959745
Stent, W. & Dowler, T. (2015), “Early assessments of the gap between integrated reporting and current corporate reporting”,
Meditari Accountancy Research, 23 (1), 92-117
Steyn, M.(2014). Senior executives’ perspectives of integrated reporting regulatory regimes as a mechanism for advancing
sustainability in South African listed companies. Southern African Business Review, 18(3), 142-174
Stubbs, W. & Higgins, C. (2014). Integrated reporting and internal mechanisms of change. Accounting Auditing &
Accountability Journal, 1-39 DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-03-2013-1279
Tijani, O. M., Ogundeji, M. G., & Ajape,K.M. (2013). Integrated reporting: Another crisis of external dependence or a model for
sustainable capital allocation. European Journal of Globalization and Development Research, 8(1), 493-506
Trpeska, M., Lazarevska, Z. B., & Atanasovski, A. (2015)Towards integrated reporting: analysis of information published on
the companies’ websites that could be part of the integrated reporting. CEA Journal of Economics, 73-89 UDC 657.37:005.57]:004.738.5
Wild, S. & van Staden, C. (2013). Integrated Reporting: Initial analysis of early reporters – an institutional theory approach.
Paper presented at the Asia Pacific Interdisciplanary Research in Accounting Conference, Kobe, 26-28 July.
Published
2020-05-12
How to Cite
Udofia, I. E., Fagboro, G. D., & Adeyemi, S. B. (2020). The Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework Implementation in Nigerian Listed Companies. Global Journal of Accounting, 6(1), 1-11. Retrieved from http://gja.unilag.edu.ng/article/view/859
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