Authors : Michael Opara, Muhammad Ruhul Amin and Matthew Cremeans
Abstract: The deployment of internet technology for corporate financial reporting in West Africa has remained largely unexplored. This study documents advances in corporate financial reporting using the internet by listed companies in Nigeria and Ghana. The findings suggest that while corporate reporting on the internet is steadily evolving in both countries, the full potential of the internet to mobilise, engage and disclose information to current and future stakeholders is yet to be realised. As the two largest economies in West Africa, their combined progress would unleash a galvanising impact that could advance an enhanced deployment of internet technology and its capabilities to satisfy strategic corporate reporting objectives, meet the requirements of current shareholders and simultaneously mobilise and motivate a wide range of potential investors that could be critical to the strategic interests of businesses in Nigeria and Ghana. Therefore, at both corporate and policy levels and drawing on insights from both agency theory and stakeholder perspectives, the opportunities for innovation in corporate financial information dissemination presented by internet technology remains enormous and largely untapped in West Africa.
Michael Opara, Muhammad Ruhul Amin and Matthew Cremeans, 2018. Advances in Internet Financial Reporting in West Africa: An Exploratory Study of Nigeria and Ghana. International Business Management, 12: 311-322.