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The wide adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) principally hinges on the notion that it promotes the production of high quality financial information for investor’s decision making in the current globalized world. However, IFRS adoption is stated to be associated with the problem of information overload. This paper examines this assertion within the Nigerian banking industry. Data is generated from the financial reports of thirteen banks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 31st December, 2014, two years pre and post-IFRS adoption. Descriptive statistics is utilized to analyse the data and the paired sampled t-test statistics to test the hypotheses. The descriptive results reveal that on average, IFRS adoption cause a 31.6% increase in the length of financial reports with the accounting policies segment increasing by 95.3%, income statement by 84.6%, notes to the accounts by 70.2%, management discussion and analysis by 23.2%, cash flow statement by 13.3%, and statement of financial position by 9.7%. Only the others segments of the financial reports decrease by 10%. The results of the paired t-test shows that there is a significant difference in the overall length of information disclosed by Nigerian banks in the pre and post-IFRS adoption periods implying IFRS adoption led to information over load in the financial reports of Nigerian banks. Further investigation reveals that notwithstanding the increase in information disclosure, post-IFRS reporting is more decision relevant. The paper recommends that investors seeking investment opportunities in the post-IFRS regime should patronize financial analyst to guide their decision making and the regulatory authorities especially the Central Bank of Nigeria should discourage company directors from disclosing unnecessary information by regulating on the maximum number of pages in annual reports and accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of current paper is to analyze influence of institutional pressures in development of Estonian accounting policy. The system has been analyzed from the viewpoint of three theories: coercive, normative and mimetic institutional pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the purpose of the paper is to examine the role of credibility in achieving successful communication processes in financial reporting and to suggest a theoretical framework based on source credibility theory that can be used to design research exploring credibility as a dimension of communication in financial reporting. The research approach adopted here is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review drawing on sources from academic and professional communication, financial reporting, and credibility studies. The framework proposed drives researchers towards considering the financial reporting process holistically, examining senders, receivers, channels and noise, and not simply factors but levels of persuasion and changes in attitude. If financial reporting is the product, and users are the audience, source credibility theory potentially offers another means of understanding why audiences might be more persuaded by one means of financial reporting than another. This paper is the first attempt to call the attention of financial reporting scholars to the area of communication through studying the credibility of communication and its effects on the successfulness of communication process. Also, the paper contributes to the debate relating to the understanding of the factors and dimensions of comprehensive credibility that includes all parties involved in the financial reporting communication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the remuneration policy in Austrian listed companies and compares it with the requirements of national corporate governance guidelines. The analysis is focused on the development of both disclosure and design of the compensation of the members of the management board. Key findings suggest considerable room for improvement of the regulations both on reporting and design of remuneration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) continue to focus on accountant and auditor liability issues. It is said that section 10A of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 remains a particularly strong area of SEC and PCAOB focus, among the many challenges faced by audit firms. The SEC and the PCAOB have brought several cases alleging section 10A violations since 2015.

The nickel briquette premium in the United States declined further to uncharted depths this week, having fallen last week to its lowest point since Fastmarkets started tracking it two-and-a-half years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a report by consulting Deloitte Global Services Ltd., entitled "SEC Comment Letters -- Including Industry Insights: A Recap of Recent Trends" related to the recommendations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding financial reporting by companies as of November 2014. According to the report SEC wants companies to be clearer and more forthcoming in their financial reports.

The article offers the insights of Stephen Cohen of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the compliance program in the marketing industry. Cohen states that a lot of firms trade without considering the thought that customers should trust them in conducting internal investigations because of their good culture of ethics and compliance. He mentions that companies must advisably discuss their compliance programs in the financial statements.

The article focuses on the Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) which can help companies on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It states that 400,000 companies have reported their income tax returns in XBRL since May 2011. It mentions that the benefits of XBRL include the reduction of maintenance costs, reduction of administrative burden through electronic validation solutions, and automated fraud detection.

The article focuses on the controversy on the financial disclosure of Oklahoma-based company Gulfport Energy. It says that the company has allowed Mike Liddell, its former chairman to acquire equity stakes from companies concerned with the energy company. It mentions that Wexford Capital awarded the equity stakes to Liddell. It states that corporate governance specialists say that the company is in compliance with the disclosure requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The article focuses on the performance of Stephen Cutler, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief of enforcement at JPMorgan Chase. It states that Cutler came in JPMorgan Chase as a big name from the Enron era. It mentions that he was quoted saying that managers are accountable on the discipline and compliance of employees. It adds that legal exposures due to noncompliance of JPMorgan Chase happened under the term of Cutler.

The article focuses on a letter announcing the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) operations of financial services firm JPMorgan, in which the bank has added 4,000 for spanning risks, finance, and audit. It mentions the steps laid out in the letter such as increasing the total spend on controls in 2013 by $1 billion and addressing consent orders to 5,000 people. It says that the bank has increased its spending on technology by 27% since 2011 in the control and regulatory space.

The article focuses on the impact of the bankruptcy of financial services company Lehman Brothers to the financial services industry, in which media coverage relate the issue to JPMorgan Chase . It says that other banks have show change and transparency, and were driven by expectations from shareholder. It mentions the securities filing by JPMorgan that includes investigations and lawsuits which the company has faced.

The article focuses on the compliance implications of corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance (ESG) programs. It says that companies are seeking for more innovative ways to unified in their formal financial statements. Moreover, stakeholders, in their negotiations with companies, often force the companies to go beyond compliance with regulatory and legal standards, particularly in their efforts to handle the environmental and social impact of their operations.

The article reports that financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. has recruited 3,000 employees for compliance and internal controls. It states that the bank is forced to cut back in mortgages and invest in governance, risk management and compliance-oriented areas (GRC). It also mentions that the bank is focusing to enforce legal resources to cover risk management and security risks.

The article focuses on the Section 953(b) of the U.S. Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which required public companies to calculate the median pay of their employees and present it side-by-side with the pay of their chief executive officer (CEO). It mentions that the problem in implementing the rule is difficult process of calculating average stock options for employees as well as top executives.

The article reflects on the efforts made by software companies to improve their financial close process by using cloud-based services. Darren Heffernan, executive vice president of Trintech Inc., says that the company's end-to-end solution for the financial close process provides a level of visibility into financial information to their costumers. The mobile application platform company ScrollMotion Inc. used a solution from the software firm Intacct Corp. to enhance its reporting.

The article focuses on a decision given by the U.S. Federal Court in District of Columbia. The court upheld the section 1502 of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to give victory to the defendant the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The plaintiffs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the U.S. National Association of Manufacturers have decided to appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia.

The article reports on the launch of an online registration system for entities falling under the purview of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It informs that the FATCA requires foreign financial institutions to disclose its U.S. clients' information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It also discusses the advantages of the FATCA system.

The article discusses cultural issues related to the enforcement of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977(FCPA) in the U.S. It informs that cultural relativism cannot be used as an excuse to bribe foreign officials. It cites several companies including J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs and Co. that hired offsprings or relatives of influential authorities.

The article discusses the risk of sell recommendations. It mentions that the investor relations (IR) professionals. It states about a report from Sterne Agee Group Inc.'s analysts related to shoe manufacturer Crocs Inc. which mentioned that managers of Crocs operations in Asia, Latin America, and North America had left the company and it faced the same situation with three marketing directors in three years.

The article discusses Form 13F, quarterly report of equity holdings, requirements for institutional money managers. It informs that the money managers are required to file the form with detailed portfolio holdings within 45 days of the end of a quarter. It mentions that the National Investor Relations Institute gave an approach in which investment firms should confidentially submit their positions to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) every month, with a 30-day delay.

The article discusses industry-specific sustainability reporting standards. It states that investors face lack of reporting standards while the federal law requires material information which is undefined. It informs that the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards issued by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). It states about the SASB's plan to release provisional sustainability accounting standards for the technology and financial services sectors.

The article offers information on a survey conducted by the provider of technology solutions ACL Services Ltd. on the governance, risk and compliance solutions (GRC) software industry. As per the survey, companies are struggling to adjust themselves with cohesive systems that can approach GRC tasks in a consistent manner. It informs that nearly 55 percent of respondents in the survey indicated that their GRC platform comprises of different solutions.

The article offers information on the criminal proceedings on former financier of professional sports Allen Stanford who was charged of operating the infamous Ponzi scheme. It mentions that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission judge Carol Fox Foelak has found that three former executives of the defunct rogue brokerage liable for fraud. It mentions that the Judge ordered that all these executives should be banned from the financial industry.

The article reports that three plaintiffs including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and the National Association of Manufacturers have planned to appeal to appellate level court against the Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act related to the conflict-minerals rule. It mentions that according to Washington D.C.'s district court judge Robert Wilkins, there are no issues associated with making of the rulemaking process.

The article offers information on purchasing decisions of a computer software development firm, Gibson Research Corp. (GRC). It informs that GRC platforms support a wide range of use cases and GRC experts are quick to point out that typically, no single product will meet 100 percent of an organization's GRC needs. The purchasing decisions of the company include taking decisions on deployment issues, integration issues, resource issues, and training issues.

The article offers information on conflicts raised over the provision of the Dodd Frank financial reform bill. The goal of the bill was to ensure that U.S. companies are not unwittingly supporting oppressive regimes in various African countries. According to a survey carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, half of 900 finance, internal audit and other executives say that their companies have only just started compliance efforts.

The article presents a case study related to credit unions and cloud governance, risk management and compliance (GRC). It mentions that cloud-service providers have made place in community banks and credit unions. It further mentions that earlier credit unions rely on different security systems which were labor intensive.

The article focuses on a study conducted by an investment firm LRN Corp. which informs about the decline of compliance investment, rate of return (ROI) and governance risk compliance (GRC) in business firms of the U.S. It mentions the views of Wayne Brody, a senior adviser at LRN Corp., regarding the problems associated with ROI. It further informs about the management-by-objectives (MBO) program which provide training to employee.

The article discusses issues related to filing XBRL, freely available and global standard for exchanging business information, by companies. It informs that the private research outfits such as research units in Wall Street, New York City are likely to embrace XBRL and to provide leading research applications open new analytical windows.

The article offers information on the implementation of the landmark Dodd Frank financial reform law. It informs that a total of 279 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed as of July 1, 2013 which is 70.1 percent of the 398 total rulemaking requirements and 99.6 percent of the 280 rulemaking requirements with specified deadlines.

The article presents information on the issues related to the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It mentions that companies got frustrated by the complicated way toward compliance with Section 404, which tested the auditor-client relationship. It also mentions that the U.S. government aided audit firms and clients to make them able to hone their processes.

The article presents information on the trend toward deferred prosecutions that has generated controversy in the U.S. for many years. It informs that the under this prosecution the prosecutors hold off indicting companies in return for fines and compliance-related concessions. It further informs that the U.S. Justice Department has defended such agreements as necessary.

The article presents information on the issue of high stakes faced by the boards of directors of the companies in the U.S. It informs that the one of the most important threats to the boards is of litigation from the attorney of the plaintiff. As per Rod Rodriguez, a partner in the New York City office of Day Pitney Corp., a law firm, best protection against litigation is informed decision making.

The article informs that an updated framework and documents for the internal financial controls process has been issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). As per COSO chairman David Landsittel the 2013 framework will bring more benefits to users. It mentions that the 2013 framework addresses enterprise risk management and data security and its benefits are linked to technology and globalization.

The article informs that the recent version of the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) taxonomy has been approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It mentions that the changes occurred in several areas including accounting standards updates, common reporting practices observed in company filings and correction of errors and rationalization of duplicated concepts.

In this article, the author focuses on the need to separate the offices of general counsel (GC) and the office of the chief compliance officer (CCO) in U.S. business enterprises. He informs that function of the CCO should be independent of GC. He also mentions that the Federal Sentencing Guidelines suggest direct reporting between the CCO and board of directors of a company.

The article focuses on the issues related to fake press releases in the U.S. It informs that stock promoters are involved in fake releases and they want to hoax media outlets through hacking activities. It also mentions that risk management committees of U.S. business enterprises should make security policies related to fake releases.

Environmental reporting is at a crossroads. In one direction, companies continue reacting ad hoc to stakeholder demands for information, with no real gain in value. In the other, standardized environmental reporting takes its place alongside financial reporting as an essential tool for investors, communities, and consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]