Creative accounting practices and shareholders’ wealth

Kayode Oluwadamilare Bankole, I O Ukolobi, Onyuka Mcdubus

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Kayode Oluwadamilare Bankole, I O Ukolobi, Onyuka Mcdubus. Creative accounting practices and shareholders' wealth. Accounting and taxation review, 2018, 2 (4), pp.58-74. hal-05102829

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Original Research Article

Creative Accounting Practices and Shareholders' Wealth

K. O. Bankole¹, I. O. Ukolobi², & O. F. McDubus³

¹ Felix McDubus and Company (Chartered Accountants), Anthony, Lagos,

² Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro,

³ Department of Accounting, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State.

*For correspondence, email: director.cecnuo@gmail.com

Received: 25/09/2018

Accepted: 30/12/2018

Abstract

This study was designed to establish the effect of creative accounting on shareholders' wealth. Inventory valuation, depreciation policy and debtors ageing schedule were used as proxies for creative accounting. The study reviewed the theories and techniques of creative accounting as well as the determinants of shareholders wealth. Empirical studies on creative accounting were reviewed. So were the scandals caused globally by creative accounting? The study found that frequent changes in inventory valuation and in depreciation policy affect shareholders wealth. It found that frequent manipulation of ageing schedule for the purpose of determining bad and doubtful debts provision had no significant effects on shareholders wealth. The study recommends stricter monitoring of entities to ensure full disclosures of changes in accounting policies with a view to guarding against immoral behaviors.

**Keywords:** creative accounting, earnings management, ageing schedule, depreciation policy, inventory valuation.

JEL Classification Codes: M400, M490

This is an open access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.

© 2018. The authors. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Citation: Bankole, K.O., Ukolobi, I.O., & McDubus, O.F. (2018). Creative accounting practices and shareholders' wealth. Accounting and Taxation Review, 2(4), 58-74

**1.0 INTRODUCTION**

Financial reports are produced to show the true and fair state of affairs of business entities so that stakeholders and other users of such information can make informed

decisions. However, certain loopholes in the accounting standards provide avenues for the use of Creative Accounting practices, such as the flexibility in the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that
allow companies to choose method and rate
of depreciation of assets and inventory
valuation method. According to Osisioma
and Enahoro (2006) accounting processes
and choice of policies resulting from many
judgments at the same time are capable of
manipulations which have resulted in
creative accounting. Bhasin (2013)
examined the India’s Enron, Satyam
Computers Creative Accounting scandal. He
stated that companies show different
depreciation method, life of assets, residual
value of assets to fluctuate the earnings.
Thus, creative accounting practices do not
provide a “true and fair” view of the
Financial Statements, since lot of
“crunching” of financial numbers is done,
within the purview of applicable laws and
prevailing accounting standards (Madan
Bhasin, 2016). Recently, the use of creative
accounting has become a controversial issue
since there are parties, both in favour and
against such practices.

Although creative accounting also called
earnings management concepts have
become popular in the last two decades,
there has always been a desire to manipulate
the numbers among business people.
Manipulating numbers to get a favourable
impression has a long history. According to
Balaciu and Vladu (2010), ambition of
making figures more or less appealing is as
old as 500 years and Lucas Paciolo had
shaped the practices of creative accounting
in his book De Arithmetica. Venetian
traders at those times recorded the
transactions between themselves by double-
entry bookkeeping with ink and quill-pen in
main and subsidiary books. If there arose
any inconsistencies the inkwell was
occasionally knocked over on these books in
order to make entries illegible. This
example shows that manipulative behaviour
of trade or business people is not a new
phenomenon and goes back to centuries ago
(Susmus & Demirhan, 2013).

The existence of all sorts of uncertainties,
both economic and accounting, in the

environment of the enterprise, makes
financial statements to be only estimates.
The management option for one of these
treatments and accounting policies creates
the possibility to choose a solution on
purpose for the benefit of the enterprise, but
this solution may not always lead to a
faithful image but more towards a
convenient image of the enterprise. Thus, a
distortion in financial quality information
appears, creating uncertainties regarding the
consistency and comparability of
information designed for users, in which
case we are dealing with intentional
accounting, in other words, we are entering
the sphere of creative accounting (Zuca &
Ioanas, 2012).

Creative accounting refers to accounting
practices that follows the letter or rules of
standard accounting practices but certainly
deviate from the spirit of those rules.
Creative accounting practices are different
from fraudulent practices and thus are not
illegal but immoral in terms of misguiding
investors. The practices, which are followed
in manipulating the books, are duly
authorized by accounting system and thus
cannot be considered as a violation of any
rule or regulations. It is characterized by
excessive compliance and the use of novel
ways of characterizing income, assets, or
liabilities and the intent to influence readers
towards the interpretations of desired
results. Creative accounting is the root
cause of a number of accounting scandals
and many proposals for accounting reform
are focusing on removing such practices
(Elliott, 2005). Financial statement is the
result of the financial accounting process
that accumulates, records, analyses,
classifies, summarizes, verifies, reports, and
interprets the financial data of a business
firm, which reflect the financial position,
performance and change in financial
position of an enterprise (Elliott, 2005). To
produce transparent, timely and reliable
FS(s), accounting process should follow
“objective” and “consistent” set of rules.
Recent unpleasant events in the economy,
coupled with frequent scandals, have raised
questions about the effectiveness of
transparency and disclosure practices,
especially in the global corporate sector.
Collapses of large number of high-profile
companies due to widespread and frequent
abuse of Creative Accounting practices
across the world have left a dirty smear on
the effectiveness of the Corporate
Governance system, the quality and
transparency of the financial reports, and
credibility of the audit functions. As a
result, the Corporate Governance structures
evolve that help in mitigating these agency
conflicts (Firth 2007; Dey 2008).

Fraudulent financial reporting has resulted
in big corporate failures as in the cases of
Enron scandal (2001), WorldCom (2002)
which led to introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley
Act in USA, Saytam Computer Services
Limited (2009) in India and American
Insurance Group (2005). Also in Nigeria,
Akintola Williams and Deloitte were
indicted for facilitating the falsification of
accounts of Afribank Plc. (Main Stream
Bank PLC) and for deliberately overstating
the profits of Cadbury Nigeria PLC. It has
reported that between 1990 and 1994,
Nigeria lost more than N6 billion
($42.9million) within the banking sector
alone. (This Day, 16 October, 2006).
(Oluwagbuyi Olusola Luke and Olowolaju
Monisola, 2013). This has not only led to
loss of investment and jobs but has also
made users of financial statement of
companies doubt the truth and fairness of
the accounting information and the
accounting profession as a whole.

**Statement of the Problem**

Previous studies such as Schipper (1989)
have debated that creative accounting
practices occur because management has the
discretion to choose accounting principles in
preparing financial statements. The
numerous corporate failures therefore are
indication of lapses in the corporate
accounting information disclosure practices
among corporations globally, Nigeria

inclusive. This has had derogative effects on
the integrity of financial reporting and the
audit profession. Other harmful effects of
corporate scandals include massive loss of
investors' fund, loss of jobs, disruption of
capital market and reduction in the National
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Adetayo &
Ajiga, 2017). There are companies that
overstate their financial performance to
meet targets and please ever demanding
shareholders. According to Fizza & Malik
(2015) when decisions that do not always
benefit the company immediately are made,
the business strategies applied prioritize
creating wealth for shareholders to
maximize their wealth. The board members
must be cautious to maintain satisfaction of
shareholders. Manipulation in financial
reports benefits only in the short run hence
susceptibility to future corporate collapse
and scandals. According to Lekaram,
(2014), the managers pursue personal
interest at the expense of shareholders. They
propose huge perks, make defective
decisions of investment or participate in
creative accounting and fraud. This takes no
notice of the fact that shareholders are
willing to examine the behavior of
management. According to Nyabuti, Memba
& Chege (2016), the current trend in
Kenyan investment is that companies
indicating an increase in shareholders
wealth attract more investment and thus
increasing share capital. Various methods
can be used to influence shareholders wealth
as a way of attracting future investment;
some legal others illegal.

Furthermore, as Nigeria joined the nations
of the world to adopt International Financial
Reporting Standard (IFRS), aimed among
other things to promote financial
information transparency, it is desirable to
examine empirically, the effects of IFRS in
curtailing creative accounting among listed
commercial banks in Nigeria. However,
several studies have been conducted on the
concept of creative accounting and also on
the concept of IFRS adoption both in
Nigeria and other countries (Taiwo &
Adejare, 2014). From the literature reviewed, none has considered the effect of inventory valuation, depreciation policy and use of ageing schedule to provide for bad and doubtful debts as instruments in the hand of managers and accountants to manipulate the result of statement of financial position. To meet the identified research gap in literature above, this study was carried out to assist the shareholders and other stakeholders by investigating the effect of creative accounting on the shareholders' wealth before making decisions with regard to potential and current investments in Nigerian companies listed on Nigeria Stock Exchange.

Against the backdrop of the above, the main objective of this study was to establish the effect of creative accounting practices on shareholders wealth of listed companies Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: establish the effects of changes in inventory valuation methods on shareholders' wealth; determine the effects of frequent changes in depreciation policy on shareholders' wealth; and state the effect of not using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision on shareholders' wealth. Based on these objectives, we hypothesized in null form as: Frequent changes in method of inventory valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth, frequent changes in depreciation policy does not affect shareholders' wealth.

And using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision does not affect shareholders' wealth.

## 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

### Review of Theories

There are several theories underpinning the study of creative accounting practices. Nevertheless, this study reviewed the agency theory, stakeholder theory, information asymmetric theory, and the debt covenant theory.

### Agency Theory

Vladu and Madis (2010), assert that agency theory is the dominant theory in the study of creative accounting. In legal entity, ownership is separated from management. The owners (shareholders) being the principal, hire managers (directors) as the agent to manage shareholders investments. Sydserff and Weetman (1999), pointed out that due to the conflict of interest between shareholders and the directors in the sharing of economic resources, directors are capable of engaging in opportunistic behaviour, hence managers are not objective in preparing accounting statements in stewardship to the shareholders, resulting in information asymmetric between principal and agent.

### Stakeholders Theory

This theory supports the statement that firms' financial statements are prepared in response to demand and interest of various groups of stakeholders': shareholders, employees, customers, government agencies, and analysts. Managers are therefore under pressure to manipulate accounting figures with the aim of changing the perceptions of a given group of stakeholders.

### Information Asymmetric Theory

According to Kamau et al., (2015), the theory states that there is a possibility of information asymmetry in which the manager has better information about the financial position of the firm than the shareholders and other users. Warfield, Wild & Wild (1995), carried out sample testing of information asymmetry hypothesis and concluded that a significant positive relationship exist between creative accounting and information asymmetry. Additionally, their result argued that the greater the information asymmetry between managers and shareholders, the higher the likelihood the company is involved in creative accounting (as cited by Adetoso and Ajiga in their work titled Creative Accounting Practices among Nigeria Listed
Commercial Banks: Curtailing Effect of
IFRS Adoption

Debt Covenant theory

The fundamental of the theory is that firms
with huge debts have high incentive to
indulge in creative accounting so as not to
breach their debt covenants. , DeFond and
Jiambalvo (1994), as cited in Alexandra
(2006), found out that companies who may
not fulfil debt covenants smooth income in
the year before the violation through the use
of accruals. This indicated that companies
indulge in creative accounting to deter
possible failure of debt agreements.

For this study, agency theory is adopted as
the theory that explains the contractual
relationship between agents (directors and
accountants) and principal (shareholders).
Agency theory pointed out the conflict of
interest between the principals and the
agents in the sharing of the resources of the
company. This explains the reasons why
directors may engage in creative accounting
to achieve their personal goals. Directors are
expected to act in the best interest of the
shareholders. But this may not always be the
case as pointed out by Padilla (2000) as
cited by Onyabuti, Memba and Chege, in
their work titled Influence of Creative
Accounting Practices on the Financial
Performance of Companies Listed in the
Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya as at
2016. The accountant as the agent of the
principal and stakeholders of financial
information is expected to discharge his
duty according to accounting principles and
regulations in order to avoid
misrepresentation or falsification of figures.
According to Osisioma and Enahoro (2006)
stakeholders rely heavily on the financial
statement of companies to take investment
decisions (Onyabuti et al, 2016).

**Techniques of Creative Accounting**

Getting Creative with the Income
Statement: It includes the practice of
communicating a different level of earning
power using the format of the income

statement rather than through the manner in
which transactions are recorded. For
example, companies may report a non-
recurring gain as other revenue, a recurring
revenue caption, or a recurring expense
might be labeled as non-recurring. This will
result in higher apparent levels of recurring
earnings without altering total net income.

Manipulating Inventory: Firms may engage
in inventory manipulation by either
manipulating the quantity of the inventory
or by valuing it. In years when profits need
to be increased the quantity can be
manipulated by doing a particularly rigorous
stock-take. Provisions for absolute and
slow-moving inventory and changing the
actual method of inventory valuation are the
practices of manipulating inventory values
(Jones, 2011).

Creative Acquisition Accounting: IFRS 3 provides extensive guidelines on how the purchase price of business acquisitions should be distributed. Yet it leaves room for manipulation of amortizing levels.

Lack of regulation: there are lack of
regulation in some areas in every domain. In
most countries accounting regulation is
limited in some areas, for example in
Nigeria there are standards yet for
recognition and measurement of financial
instruments.

Regulatory Flexibility: Generally,
accounting regulations often allow a choice
of policy; for example, in respect of assets
valuation (International Accounting
Standards permit a choice between
recording non-current assets at either
depreciated historical cost or revalued
amounts). The management may decide the
change of the policies, and these shifts are
difficult to be identified a few years later
(Schipper, 1989).

Abuse of Materiality Concept: It includes
misusing the concept of materiality by
intentionally recording errors within a
defined percentage ceiling. Firms indulging
in this practice try to find an excuse for it by
arguing that the effect on the net income is
too small to matter.

Big Bath Charges: In this technique, instead of showing losses for a couple of years, a big loss is shown for a single year by charging all expenses in that year. This may be done if there are apparent reasons for poor profitability in that year and the management feels that by lumping all expenses in one bad year, they can start showing better profits in following years.

Using Cookie Jar Reserves: this refers to over-provisioning for accrued expenses when revenues are high, in order to bring profits down to a level that is safe to sustain in the future." It also includes failure to provide all the accrued expenses to show larger profits during tougher times when needed (Shah and Butt, 2011).

Concept of Shareholders’ Wealth

Maximising shareholders’ wealth has
always been a focus for all companies as a
precedence among other corporate issues
like corporate social responsibilities.
According to Adaramola and Oyerinde
(2014), shareholder wealth as the projected
future earnings to the firm owners
calculated in their present value. These
projected future earnings are usually in the
form of dividends distributed periodically
and proceeds from the trading of share.
They also highlighted that dividends are
paid to ordinary shareholders out of
corporate profits. In their study carried out
on listed companies in Nigeria, it revealed
that changes in dividend payment could be
used to predict share price movement which
consequently affects shareholders wealth.
However, share prices are dependent on
stability and growth of the economy.
According to Johannes (2014), Companies
report earnings quarterly and this brought
about pressure on management to deliver
acceptable earnings per share performance.
Recent corporate scandals have been

attributed to managers’ over-emphasis on
short-term EPS performance. EPS growth is
determined by incomes retained in reserves,
loan liabilities, operating leverage and
financial leverage. It succor decisions on
valuation of share, incentive schemes based
on performance of managers and
negotiations regarding mergers and
acquisitions. Big share price movements are
driven by short-term earnings in response to
earnings surprises, an objection to the
perception of long-term cash flow
expectations driving the share price
changes.

The Relationship between Creative
Accounting and Shareholders' Wealth

Practices of creative accounting has facilitated many companies beyond financial crises than put them into crisis. The fault when it emerges lies with the user of the financial information (Munene, 2016).

Shareholders’ wealth is influenced by
various factors. These factors include
dividend policy, earnings after tax and
interests, changes in share prices and market
forces. The assumption is that creation of
shareholders’ wealth is the primary
objective of most listed companies;
therefore existing and potential shareholders
focus on maintaining and building of wealth
they have invested in a listed company for
an economic gain.

Dividend policy Domash (2002) in a
speech before members of the Australian
Society of Accountants, stressed that
financial statements, which inflate the
performances of companies by manipulating
figures (that is, through creative accounting)
should be stamped out as it puts the investor
and other users of accounting information to
great difficulties to distinguish between the
paper entrepreneur and the truly successful
entrepreneur. Fizza and Malik (2015),
described the manipulative behaviors of
users of financial information and how the
practices of creative accounting could be of
benefits to them and also lead them into
crisis. Manipulations in financial reports
benefits only in the short run as it may
affect the prices of shares and capital market
of firm. They suggested that companies take
up actions which will fill the gaps in
decisions of management and accounting
regulations to ensure the financial reports
are based on the actual financial position.
This is because investors may take a long
term decision with the goal of making
profits at a forthcoming date, or may intend
to improve their wealth by a transaction of
trading with their stocks; a fact dependent
on decision making which is influenced by
the financial report. When decisions that do
not always benefit the company
immediately are made, the business
strategies applied prioritize creating wealth
for shareholders to maximize their wealth.

**Earnings after Tax and Interests:** Shah, Butt & Tariq (2011) showed how creative accounting was used by companies producing cement during financial crises in the country. Many companies used the creative accounting techniques to remain afloat. Companies showed profits or minimized losses by change of depreciation policy when demand and production of cement was low. This kept investors reasonably comforted and staff relaxed by paying out dividends out of the profits. Shareholders' wealth was increased as per the reported profits. Bakre (2007) in his work, documented various cases in which accountants and external auditors in collaboration with management and director of companies falsify and deliberately overstate accounts. Investigation into financial report of Afribank (Main Stream Plc.) implicated Akintola Williams and Deloitte in facilitating an over statement of the banks account by the management. Other Nigerian cases have also been documented in which a number of professional accounting firms were involved and indicted for anti-social practices in conflict with their professional claims in an attempt to be acting in public interest and it

was suggested that the matter needed further
investigation (Bakre, 2007). A number of
scholars have shown in their studies that
many accountants particularly members of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Nigeria have been responsible for the crisis
in the banking and manufacturing sectors in
Nigeria (Okike, 2004). These studies reveal
that the regulatory framework in Nigeria is
weak because members of the professional
firms implicated in a number of anti-social
practices in Nigeria have not yet been
sanctioned. Bakare posit that the key issue
in the field of auditing and assurance is to
recognise that auditing can be of even
greater value, if it looks beyond the
traditional financial issues and focuses on
areas that matter to a wide range of
stakeholders and the public.

Schiff (1993) warn investors in general that,
taking a company's financial statements at
face value can be a recipe for disaster.
Earnings Per Share (EPS), the only number
to which investors regularly go wrong by
paying too much attention, can be increased
by the stroke of an accountant's creative
pen. Schiff mentioned six of the many ways
companies can manipulate their earnings:
(1) hidden pension liabilities, (ii)
capitalising expenses instead of writing
them off, (iii) receivables or inventories
growing faster than sales, (iv) negative cash
flow, (v) consolidating owned subsidiary's
income and net worth, with the
impossibility of receiving the same, and (vi)
following seemingly conservative practice
in a situation of reverse direction (for
example, if layers of lower priced LIFO
(last-in, first-out)-cost of inventory are
inflated and sold at current prices, current
earnings power is overstated) (Akenbor and
Ibanichuka, 2012).

Kamau, Mutiso and Ngui (2012), are of
the opinion that tax avoidance and evasion
is a motivator of the practice of creative
accounting for the purposes of evading and
avoiding tax among companies in Kenya.
Their study found out that creative
accounting is widely practiced among companies in Kenya. The study established that the tax avoidance and evasion is a major motivation that drives practice of creative accounting. Since tax is calculated on the basis of income, it is highly likely that the companies may understate their income so as to reduce the tax burden. Bhasin (2013) examined the India's Enron, Satyam Computers Creative Accounting scandal. He suggested "the increasing rate of white-collar crimes demands stiff penalties, exemplary punishments, and effective enforcement of law with the right spirit." Companies show different depreciation method, life of assets, residual value of assets to fluctuate the earnings. Mangers have role to show fluctuating profits which puts firms into financial crisis after showing profits and growth in beginning year then they collapsed. To exclude creative accounting from balance sheet auditors and management have to play a big role and provide true and fair view by financial reporting. It is not possible to eliminate creative accounting completely.

**Changes in Share Prices:** Johannes (2014) argued that share price movements are driven by short-term earnings in response to earnings surprises, this is an objection to the perception of long-term cash flow expectations driving the share price changes. Akenbor and Ibanichuka (2012), researched into the reasons for creative accounting practice in Nigeria banking sector and found out that the main reason is to raise market value of share. Osazevbaru (2012) examined creative accounting and firm's market value in Nigeria. The study concluded that many banks in Nigeria indulged in creative accounting by direct lending to shareholders to buy the bank's shares in order to sustain demand pressure to cause unabated price rise without appreciation in capital base. Sanusi and Izadonmi (2014) observed that the reason behind the creative accounting in Nigerian commercial banks is to boost the market value of share.

**Market Forces:** Adaramola and Hemadivya (2013) indicated that demand and supply factors have influence on the price of equity shares. Oyerinde (2014) posit that a rise and fall in corporation's market value depend majorly on market forces. Where the companies and economy depicts possibility of stability and growth the share prices have a tendency to rise or stabilise.

## 3.0 METHODOLOGY
### Research Design

The study adopts the survey research design. The population of the study consists of all managers and accountants in all the 57 financial service institutions listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Five banks were sampled from the list of banks listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange. From this five banks (Guaranteed Trust Bank Plc., First Bank of Nigeria Plc., Access Bank Nigeria Plc., Skye Nigeria Bank Plc. Zenith Bank Plc.) eighty employees were selected and suitable questionnaire was constructed and administered on them. Responses were obtained from seventy people while ten (10) were not returned. The study made use of primary data. The major method of data collection used was structured questionnaire as the primary source of data. The primary data was collected, organized and coded for processing to generate tallies from every response per question.

### Method of Data Analysis

On completion of data collection, data was checked for completeness after which it was coded. Data was grouped and arranged according to particular research questions. The data was then analyzed by use of descriptive statistics by help of computer software package Scientific Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) 23 and presented by use of tables. The study used SPSS 23 as a statistical package to analyze the data.

The study considered a significance level of 5% that is, at 95 % confidence level for the analysis. This is to be fixed for all the tools to be used.
## 4.0 ESTIMATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

<table><caption>Table 1: What is your position in your organisation?</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Frequency</th><th>Percent (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Accountants</td><td>30</td><td>43</td></tr><tr><td>Managers</td><td>40</td><td>57</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Total</strong></td><td><strong>70</strong></td><td><strong>100</strong></td></tr></tbody></table>

90% of the sampled respondents agreed that their organizations have a depreciation policy applicable to non-current assets while 10% of the respondents have no information on whether their organizations have a depreciation policy.

### Hypothesis 1:

<caption>Table 2: Frequent changes in method of inventory valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth</caption>

<table><caption>Crosstab</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Position in the organisation</th><th rowspan="2">Accountant</th><th rowspan="2">Count</th><th colspan="3">Frequent change in method of stock valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth</th><th rowspan="2">Total</th></tr><tr><th>Agree</th><th>Undecided</th><th>Disagree</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="5"></td><td rowspan="5">Accountant</td><td>Expected Count</td><td>15.4</td><td>6.0</td><td>8.6</td><td>30.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>73.3%</td><td>3.3%</td><td>23.3%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% within Frequent change in method of stock valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>61.1%</td><td>7.1%</td><td>35.0%</td><td>42.9%</td></tr><tr><td>% of Total</td><td>31.4%</td><td>1.4%</td><td>10.0%</td><td>42.9%</td></tr><tr><td>Manager</td><td>Count</td><td>14</td><td>13</td><td>13</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="5"></td><td rowspan="5">Manager</td><td>Expected Count</td><td>20.6</td><td>8.0</td><td>11.4</td><td>40.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>35.0%</td><td>32.5%</td><td>32.5%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% within Frequent change in method of stock valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>38.9%</td><td>92.9%</td><td>65.0%</td><td>57.1%</td></tr><tr><td>% of Total</td><td>20.0%</td><td>18.6%</td><td>18.6%</td><td>57.1%</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>Count</td><td>36</td><td>14</td><td>20</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3"></td><td rowspan="3"></td><td>Expected Count</td><td>36.0</td><td>14.0</td><td>20.0</td><td>70.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>51.4%</td><td>20.0%</td><td>28.6%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tr><td>% within Frequent change in method of inventory valuation does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% of Total</td><td>51.4%</td><td>20.0%</td><td>28.6%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr></table>

Source: SPSS Computation

<table><caption>Table 3: Chi-Square Tests</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Value</th><th>df</th><th>Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Pearson Chi-Square</td><td>12.694<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.002</td></tr><tr><td>Likelihood Ratio</td><td>14.390</td><td>2</td><td>.001</td></tr><tr><td>Linear-by-Linear Association</td><td>5.099</td><td>1</td><td>.024</td></tr><tr><td>N of Valid Cases</td><td>70</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: SPSS Computation

## Hypothesis 2

<table><caption>Table 4: Frequent changes in depreciation policy does not affect shareholders' wealth. Crosstab</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2"></th><th rowspan="2"></th><th rowspan="2"></th><th colspan="3">Frequent change in depreciation policy does not affect shareholders' wealth</th><th rowspan="2">Total</th></tr><tr><th>Agree</th><th>Undecided</th><th>Disagree</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="6">Position in the organisation</td><td rowspan="3">Accountant</td><td>Count</td><td>11</td><td>14</td><td>5</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>Expected Count</td><td>13.3</td><td>8.1</td><td>8.6</td><td>30.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>36.7%</td><td>46.7%</td><td>16.7%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">Manager</td><td>Count</td><td>35.5%</td><td>73.7%</td><td>25.0%</td><td>42.9%</td></tr><tr><td>Expected Count</td><td>17.7</td><td>10.9</td><td>11.4</td><td>40.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>50.0%</td><td>12.5%</td><td>37.5%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>% within Frequent change in depreciation policy does not affect shareholders' wealth<br>% of Total</td><td>64.5%</td><td>26.3%</td><td>75.0%</td><td>57.1%</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>Count<br>Expected Count<br>% within Position in the organisation<br>% within Frequent change in depreciation policy does not affect shareholders' wealth<br>% of Total</td><td>31<br>31.0<br>44.3%<br>100.0%<br>44.3%</td><td>19<br>19.0<br>27.1%<br>100.0%<br>27.1%</td><td>20<br>20.0<br>28.6%<br>100.0%<br>28.6%</td><td>70<br>70.0<br>100.0%<br>100.0%<br>100.0%</td></tr></table>

Source: SPSS Computation

<table><caption>Table 5: Chi-Square Tests</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Value</th><th>df</th><th>Asymptotic<br>Significance<br>(2-sided)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Pearson Chi-Square</td><td>10.665<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.005</td></tr><tr><td>Likelihood Ratio</td><td>10.889</td><td>2</td><td>.004</td></tr><tr><td>Linear-by-Linear<br>Association</td><td>.135</td><td>1</td><td>.713</td></tr><tr><td>N of Valid Cases</td><td>70</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: SPSS Computation

Hypothesis 3: Using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision does not affect shareholders' wealth

<table><caption>Table 6: Crosstab</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Position in<br>the<br>organisation</th><th rowspan="2">Accountant<br>Count<br>Expected Count<br>% within Position<br>in the organisation</th><th colspan="3">Using ageing schedule to<br>determine bad and doubtful debt<br>provision does not affect<br>shareholders' wealth</th><th rowspan="2">Total</th></tr><tr><th>Agree</th><th>Undecided</th><th>Disagree</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td></td><td>19</td><td>4</td><td>7</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>18.4</td><td>3.0</td><td>8.6</td><td>30.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>63.3%</td><td>13.3%</td><td>23.3%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tbody><tr><td></td><td>% within Using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>44.2%</td><td>57.1%</td><td>35.0%</td><td>42.9%</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>% of Total</td><td>27.1%</td><td>5.7%</td><td>10.0%</td><td>42.9%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="5">Manager</td><td>Count</td><td>24</td><td>3</td><td>13</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>Expected Count</td><td>24.6</td><td>4.0</td><td>11.4</td><td>40.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>60.0%</td><td>7.5%</td><td>32.5%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% within Using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>55.8%</td><td>42.9%</td><td>65.0%</td><td>57.1%</td></tr><tr><td>% of Total</td><td>34.3%</td><td>4.3%</td><td>18.6%</td><td>57.1%</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="5">Total</td><td>Count</td><td>43</td><td>7</td><td>20</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td>Expected Count</td><td>43.0</td><td>7.0</td><td>20.0</td><td>70.0</td></tr><tr><td>% within Position in the organisation</td><td>61.4%</td><td>10.0%</td><td>28.6%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% within Using ageing schedule to determine bad and doubtful debt provision does not affect shareholders' wealth</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr><tr><td>% of Total</td><td>61.4%</td><td>10.0%</td><td>28.6%</td><td>100.0%</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: SPSS Computation

<table><caption>Table 7: Chi-Square Tests</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Value</th><th>df</th><th>Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Pearson Chi-Square</td><td>1.119<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.572</td></tr><tr><td>Likelihood Ratio</td><td>1.121</td><td>2</td><td>.571</td></tr><tr><td>Linear-by-Linear Association</td><td>.333</td><td>1</td><td>.564</td></tr><tr><td>N of Valid Cases</td><td>70</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: SPSS Computation
<table><caption>Table 8: Results</caption><thead><tr><th>Effect of changes in:</th><th>Value of X<sup>2</sup> calc.</th><th>df.</th><th>Sig. level</th><th>p. value</th><th>Table Value f X<sup>2</sup></th><th>Decision Rule</th><th>Decision</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Inventory valuation on shareholders' wealth</td><td>12.694<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.05</td><td>.002</td><td>5.99</td><td>If X<sup>2</sup> calc. &gt; X<sup>2</sup> tab., reject null otherwise accept null</td><td>Accept alternate hypothesis</td></tr><tr><td>Depreciation Policy on shareholders' wealth</td><td>10.665<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.05</td><td>.005</td><td>5.99</td><td>If X<sup>2</sup> calc. &gt; X<sup>2</sup> tab., reject null otherwise accept null</td><td>Accept alternate hypothesis</td></tr><tr><td>Bad Debt Provision on shareholders' wealth</td><td>1.119<sup>a</sup></td><td>2</td><td>.05</td><td>.572</td><td>5.99</td><td>If X<sup>2</sup> calc. &gt; X<sup>2</sup> tab., reject null otherwise accept null</td><td>Accept null hypothesis</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: Authors' Computation

## Discussion

From table 8, the result of Chi-Square result of the effect inventory valuations on Shareholders' wealth is statistically significant as the calculated value of Chi-Square is more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance. Also the p value at 0.002 level of significant shows a strong evidence to reject the null hypothesis. This shows that method of inventory valuation affects shareholders' wealth.

The result of the test of hypothesis two shows that frequent changes in depreciation policy does affect shareholders' wealth as the calculated value 10.67 of Chi Square is greater than the table value of 5.99 at 0.05 level of significance. The P value of 0.005 also indicate strong evidence to reject null hypothesis. This shows that depreciation policy affects shareholders' wealth.

The result in table 8 shows that using ageing schedule method of provision for bad and doubtful debts do not affect shareholders' wealth as the calculated value of the Chi Square 1.119 is smaller than the table value of 5.99. Also the p value of 0.572 is a little higher than the required value of 0.05. Though the difference is not statistically significant but the calculated value of chi

square is too low to the table value, therefore null hypothesis was accepted for this study. Therefore we conclude that there is no statistical relationship between the use of ageing schedule to provide for bad and doubtful debts and shareholders' wealth.

## 5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study identified frequent changes in method of inventory valuation and depreciation policy as part of the instruments used to give positive image to financial statements. The study recognized that frequent changes in method of inventory valuation and depreciation policy affect shareholders' wealth. The study also found that using ageing schedule to make provision for bad and doubtful debts does not affect shareholders' wealth. Alternative permissible methods are adopted in preparation of financial statements. This is an avenue for manipulations in the financial statements. Regulatory authorities have insisted on adequate disclosures which should show what the differences in alternative treatments would be.

However, it would be impractical to think that it is possible to eradicate creative accounting or earnings management
practices. It will be possible to reduce the
negative effects by adopting the accounting
standards, giving more importance to ethics
and managing the flexibility of the different
accounting methods. The scope of the
current study was limited to the responses of
managers and accountants of listed
companies in Nigeria. Future research
should include other categories of staff other
than the ones interviewed in this study. As
new creative accounting techniques may
emerge in the future due to changes in
regulations, managerial policy and new
technologies, researchers should identify the
need to explore other relevant relationships.

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