Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Financial Expertise and Financial Reporting Quality

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the association between CEO financial expertise and financial reporting quality, using the qualitative features of International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) as a measure of financial reporting quality. The research design utilised was the panel design. The population and sample consisted of firms listed in the financial sector on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The paper covered the period 2012-2018, given that Nigeria adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) in 2012. Data was sourced manually from firms’ annual reports and analysed using the panel regression method after descriptive and diagnostic tests such as the Correlation, Hausman test and normality test. The findings from the study revealed that CEO financial expertise have a positive and significant relationship with financial reporting quality. This implies that CEOs with the requisite knowledge in financial can contribute to the quality of the reporting process due to their understanding of the metrics. The paper recommended that CEOs requirement for equipment should include some knowledge of finance and even if no knowledge at the time should undergo some crash training courses to bring them up to speed.