TRENDS IN EARNINGS QUALITY

TRENDS IN EARNINGS QUALITY
 
Abstract
Over the past decades, extensive research has been carried out in various countries regarding the signaling effect of dividend. Most of these studies were in support of the signaling hypothesis that corporate dividend payments play a vital role as an information transmission mechanism and can indicate the future prospect of the firm. It is an recognition of this crucial role that dividend policy of firm plays in the economic life of investors and related parties that it became necessary to examine this issue as it relates to corporate firms in the Nigerian Stock market, on the largest stock markets in Africa. The objective of this study was to determine how changes in corporate dividend policy affect the future prospect of firms in Nigeria. The sample considered ten (10) banks listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market and the annual reports were observed for a five years 2007 – 2011. the study revealed that corporate dividend policy serves as a information signal to investors and related parties in Nigeria. That corporate dividend indicate future prosperity of the firm and vice versa. Lastly, that changes in dividend of corporate bodies do not affect the value of the firm.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page                                                                 i
        Certification                                                             ii
        Dedication                                                               iii
        Acknowledgements                                                  iv
        Abstract                                                                   vi
        Table of Contents                                                     vii
        Chapter One: Introduction                                      1
Chapter Two: Review of Related Literature              8
Chapter Three: Research Method and Design                 77
Chapter Four: Data Presentation, Analysis
and Interpretation                                                    81
Chapter Five: Summary of Findings, Conclusion
and Recommendations                                          110
References                                                             118
Appendices                                                            122
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
An important quality of financial information is what it must assist users to make meaning decision extant literature as well as accounting standard recognize that the principal objective of financial and accounting information is to aid decision making. In order to satisfy the criterion of decision usefulness accounting information must possess two broad categories of qualities these are;
With respect to decision specific quantities accounting information must be relevant and reliable. When accounting information is free from error and biases and faithfully represent the fundamental realities of the organization. It is said to be reliable if it has the capacity to influence the decision making it is said to be relevant. The quality of accounting information available.
The two keys measure in accounting information are earning and book value.
Dechew & Schrand,2004 state  that Accounting information is the most sought after indicator by investors. This is so because it allow them to make decision as to the value of equity extent literature as documented the statistical association between equity value and key boltom line measure  of earning and book value (Ball & Brown (1968).
Empirical literature examining the association between firm value and earning document a weak relationship. A lot of factor has been adduced for it one factor however that has not been address is that of earning quality.
Earning quality can be defined as “Absence of earning management. This is so because where manager intentionally manipulate earning it reduce the quality of earning consequently tier usefulness as decision criterion. The incentive to engage in earning management is accentuated by many actors to include the quality of corporate governance, the legal environment opportunity available to manipulate earning etc. In the context of the foreign earning quality assume a critical dimension with respect of quality of investment decision.  
A survey of corporate business in Nigeria specially in banking industry over the years will reveal several instance of distresses is depositor and investor is that of bank giving lean bill of health by auditory only for those banks become distress in no distant time. In 2010 the CBN declared 10 banks as critically ill. This was against the backdrop of fatalistic reported earnings by such banks by 2011 these banks reported several losses that wiped up their capital base. The implication of this was that profit hitherto reported where of dubious quality or doubtful quality.
The principal problem which this study address is the quality of earnings in quoted firms in the Nigeria stock exchange for the past 10 years.
In order to achieve the objective of the study the following questions are seeking for answer(s).
1.     To find out the quality earning in Nigeria.
2.     To find out if the earnings in Nigeria increase or decrease.
In order to achieve the objective stated above, the following hypotheses are raised.
HO1: Earning quality has decline overtime in Nigeria.
Ho1: Earning quality has increase overtime in Nigeria.
Ho2: Earning quality is negatively related to market return and volatility.
Ho2: Earning quality is positively related to market return and volatility.
Earning quality is of interest to users of financial statement particularly investors. For the average Nigeria investor perhaps the only source of information available for investment decision making is accounting information. A key component of that is earning quality. This study is of interest to different categories of the public.
This study covers a time period 2002 to 2010. A period in which the stock market witnessed dramatic changes it is a period that coincides with liberalization of the economy  and in which the market experience turbulence between 2006 and 2008 equity price climb high and by 2009 and 2010. The market nose-drive. Some have argued that the market exuberance in 2007 and 2008 had nothing to do with fundamentals such as earnings but rather with skyrocketing oil prices. The focus on quoted firms is informed by stringent reporting requirement relative to those unknown quoted firms. They are expected to have their financial statement audited and publicly available for investor.   
The retrieval of the administered questionnaire pose another challenges to the end that some of the management staff were not around as at the times the researcher came to collect the answered questionnaires. This inhibits a great problem that hindered the researcher to form a proper conclusion.
Earning quality simply mean the degree to which management’s choices of accounting estimate can affect imported income (thus choice occurs every period) some of such estimate may be difficult quantify given the company the lee way (opportunity) to report a wide range of periodic earnings.