TITLE:               

PRESSURE AND FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL REPORTS OF LISTED INDUSTRIAL GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

AUTHORS:     

Suswam Bibian Mwuese, Prof. Ofili Ugwudioha, Ivungu John Ayoor

DOI:  10.5110/77. 1704               Page:   57-69          Vol: 19    Issue: 07  Year: 2024

ABSTRACT

Fraudulent financial reporting poses a significant threat to the integrity of the trust of stakeholders in businesses and the fraud triangle highlights key elements that contributes to the occurrence of fraud in a firm. This study examined the effect of pressure on fraudulent financial reports of listed industrial firms in Nigerian from 2012 to 2022. The independent variable is pressure proxied as financial stability, leverage and financial targets) while the dependent variable fraudulent financial report is proxied as discretionary accruals. A sample of 10 industrial firms were drawn from a population of 13 firms. Secondary data was obtained from the audited annual reports of the selected industrial goods firms in Nigeria. Descriptives research design was adopted for analysis. Based on the Hausman test, Random effect was used to analyse the panel data. The study found that financial stability has a significant positive effect on discretionary accrual. The result reveals that leverage and financial targets have an insignificant effect on discretionary accruals. The study concludes that pressure is capable of increasing fraudulent financial reports in industrial firms if not checked. The study recommends that financially stable industrial firms should prioritize transparency and conservative accounting practices to maintain and enhance their credibility in the financial markets.

 Keywords:

Pressure, Fraudulent financial reporting, Industrial, Nigeria

Received: 20 June 2024

Accepted: 06 July 2024

Published: 13 July 2024