SimaPro Results

multi-nationality, auditor size, industry type and company age. It employs contents analysis of disclosure levels for financial and non-financial companies. The overall results showed that both listed financial companies and listed non-financial companies do not fully comply with disclosure requirements of relevant SASs. In addition, the study result showed that company size and auditor type were the only corporate attributes that significantly related to extent of disclosure.

The revelations of the results of prior studies of listed companies in many countries and especially in Nigeria explained the importance of under-taking similar research in Nigeria but with a focus on the Commercialized Federal Government Enterprises which have not been examined by any prior research. In addition, prior research concentrated on the relationship between firm characteristics and extent of disclosure. This approach assumes that the natures of the enterprises (which are the special features of the enterprises) are not significantly relevant to their disclosure practices. This research argued that the special features (firm effects) of the enterprises also significantly affect the extent to which they comply with accounting standards disclosure requirements.

managerial style, managerial philosophy, type of market, process of production and a host of others.

Specifically, the following have been identified as existing gaps in knowledge in the literatures reviewed:

First, the examination of the relationship between corporate attributes and extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements in financial statements by the Federal Government commercialised companies was not properly covered in the prior literature.

Second, the examination of the relationship between firm effects (nature) of the firm and the extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements by Federal Government commecialised enterprises was not adequately covered by prior literature. The examination of effect of firm effects on extent of compliance isolated the actual influence of corporate attributes on extent of disclosure from the total effect of both corporate attributes and the nature of the firm and the extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements.

Third, the determination of disclosure indices of each of the Federal government commercialised companies and their overall disclosure index has not been properly addressed in prior literature.

Summary

Chapter two discussed the conceptual framework, the theoretical framework, the review of relevant empirical literature and established gaps. The conceptual framework included the definitions of all the concepts used in this study both as they were used by previous studies and as they were used in this current study to relate the effect of corporate attributes on extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements. It

discussed key concepts such as corporate disclosure, corporate governance and its importance to accounting disclosures, corporate accountability and corporate transparency, accounting standards and financial reporting and disclosure responsibilities of management, measurement of elements of financial reports, the determinants of accounting disclosures and commercialized Federal Government enterprises. The conceptual framework also examined and elaborated on the research problems in relation to the relevant literature reviewed. It emphasised key ideas or constructs in the approach to this work, especially as they related to the corporate attributes and firm effects examined in this study. Besides, the chapter identified and discussed the origin, nature and operations of public enterprises in developed and developing countries and the need for the commercialization of public enterprises.

Furthermore, the chapter also discussed the theoretical framework, particularly, accounting theories that link corporate attributes and firm effects with disclosure practices of firms. The importance of the basic accounting theories to the topic and the research questions were emphasised. The reasons for adopting the stakeholder, stewardship, resource dependence and agency theories in this study were explained along with other socio-economic and psychological theories that were considered useful in this study. The chapter also reviewed prior literature on accounting standards compliance with disclosure requirements. From the empirical review of prior literature, it was observed that very little research has been devoted to the corporate disclosure practices of firms in Nigeria generally and in particular, there was no research on disclosure practices of governments‟ business enterprises, like commercialised Federal Government companies.

In addition, the conflicting results of prior studies indicated that there was a need for a specific study on commercialised government enterprises to understand the causes of

variations in the disclosure practices of these enterprises. It is in the light of all these reasons that this study has filled the currently observed gaps in the following ways:

The study established the extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements. It also examined the relationship between selected corporate attributes and extent of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements on one part and the relationship between firm effects and level of compliance with accounting standards disclosure requirements by Commercialised Federal Government Companies in Nigeria on another part.

CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter discussed the method and procedures that were employed in carrying out the research. Methodology provides explanations concerning the accepted criteria for empirical objectivity and the methods and techniques used for their validation. According to Maimako (2005) scientific methodology is a system of explicit rules and procedures upon which research is based and against which claims for knowledge are evaluated. This means that objectivity depends on validation and the rules of validation are explained in this study so that it provides the basis upon which the results of this research can be relied on. The methods adopted in this research included sources of data, study population, sample size, sampling technique, data gathering method, instruments for data collection, description of disclosure index template, validity and reliability of instruments, method of data presentation and analysis, instruments for data analysis and model specification.