International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption and Value Relevance of Financial Information of Quoted Healthcare Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was first adopted in 2005 by European Union countries while Nigeria mandatorily adopted in 2012 to participate in opportunities offered by globalization. This study, therefore, investigated the impact of IFRS adoption on the value relevance of financial information of quoted Healthcare Firms in Nigeria. The study conducted a pre (2008-2011) and post (2012-2015) IFRS analyses on six Healthcare firms quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. The study sourced data on Earnings per Share (EPS), Change in Earnings per Share (CEPS), Book Value per Share (BVPS) and Share Price (SP) from published annual reports of the quoted Healthcare firms and Cashcraft Asset Management. Using the Multiple regression model the study revealed that Pre- IFRS financial information is value relevant; Post-IFRS financial information is also value relevant; and Post-IFRS financial information has relative value relevance over Pre- IFRS financial information.