THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA (A STUDY OF NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC)

CHAPTER ONE

  INTRODUCTION

  1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY   

The impact of financial reporting on the corporate performance of a business organization is becoming more apparent to user groups of financial statement.   Accounting is a not an exact science neither are business operations without some subjective and judgmental errors when it comes to reporting them. A financial report therefore is statement which informs the various interest groups of a business on the operations and performance of their business in a period under review, its present state of affairs as well as its anticipated future, in accordance with the statutes. If a financial report is to serve its purpose it ought to be characterized by relevance, understandability, reliability, completeness, objectivity and timeliness. If accounting process of an organization is to provide the information required to prepare a financial report which shall have the above characteristics then the transaction during the period must be recorded promptly and accurately and interpreted in conformity with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Statements of Accounting Standards (SAS), International Financial Reporting Standards and the companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).   Financial Accounting becomes necessary with the obvious need for managers to render accounts of stewardship to owners of the business. Financial reporting is a duty of stewardship assigned to the directors of a company by section 334 of the company and Allied Matters Act Cap L20 LFN, equally the mandatory responsibility of companies to keep accounting records derives its strength from section 331 and 382 of the same act. These sections explicitly defined the necessary content and manner in which financial records should be kept.  

 1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM   

The study “financial accounting; a panacea on the corporate performance of business organisation” aims at investigating the financial reports of selected companies with a view to determining the extent to which a standard financial report contributes to the growth of a business organization and the extent to which the financial reports of corporate business organization comply with statutory provisions.   Therefore, based on the above statements, the researcher shall investigate the financial reporting standards and every regulation that bears on the financial statement and the extent of compliance of the selected companies to relevant statutes.