DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) has become an important framework in today’s business world. It focuses on three key areas environmental, social, and governance which together encourage organisations to act responsibly and build longterm value. Closely related ideas such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability share this same goal of promoting ethical and sustainable business practices. The environmental aspect of ESG is about caring for and protecting the natural environment recognising it as a vital gift that should be managed responsibly. The social aspect focuses on people and communities, highlighting issues such as employee wellbeing, community support, and social equity. The governance aspect, on the other hand, deals with how an organisation is managed and controlled, including leadership integrity, transparency, and accountability. Every organisation aims to improve its financial performance, as this is essential for growth and long-term success. Organisational resilience refers to how strong and adaptable a company can be when faced with challenges, while organisational behavioural change involves adopting the right attitudes and practices needed to achieve business goals.

The primary aim of this research was to assess the impact of tax evasion and tax avoidance on revenue generation in Nigeria. The study examines the relationship between tax evasion, tax avoidance, total revenue generation and the Nigerian economy. The research design adopted in this study was the survey research design; primary data were collected through the use of questionnaire. Secondary data was also supplemented with primary data.The findings revealed that a significant relationship exists between tax evasion/avoidance and their contributing factors. It was also found that tax evasion and tax avoidance have a significant impact on revenue generation in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends, that the tax authorities should properly review and improve their assessment and collection procedures. It was also recommended that the tax authority’s audit unit should be made stronger to regularly check and verify the tax payments collected by officials at all levels

This study examines the relationship between board audit committee characteristics and corporate financial performance in 50 selected companies listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange Group (NGX) from 2018 - 2023. The study was carried out by extracting data from the annual reports for the period on which the secondary data and panel regression analysis were used. Corporate Financial Performance was represented by board size (BDSIZE), board independence (BDIND), audit committee size (ACSIZE), audit committee independence (ACIND), audit committee meeting frequency (ACMF), audit committee financial expertise (ACEXP) and two control variables leverage (LEV) and firm size (FSIZE), which formulated seven research hypotheses from each of the variables. The result of the finding revealed that board size (BDSIZE), audit committee size (ACSIZE), audit committee independence (ACIND), and audit committee financial expertise (ACEXP) have a positive and significant effect on corporate financial performance, audit committee independence has a positive but insignificant effect on the financial performance, while board independence (BDIND), frequency of audit meetings (ACMF), and firm size (FSIZE) have a negative and insignificant effect on corporate financial performance. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening audit committee composition and competencies to enhance financial performance and investor confidence.

This study focused on investigates the relationship between tax system and economic
growth using the population of tax payers in Benin city as case study for the study. The
main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between tax system and
economic growth. The specific objectives are to investigate the relationship between tax
laws, enforcements, administration, taxpayer education and economic growth.The
descriptive survey design was used in this study to obtain facts about the study and to
draw a valid general conclusion from the facts discovered. The population of the study
consisted of tax payers residing in Benin City. The sample size was determined using a
purposive sampling technique to select 300 respondents representing tax payers in Benin
City. The findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between tax laws, tax
enforcement, tax administration, tax payer education and Economic Growth
In light of these findings the study recommends that government should improve the
efficiency and transparency of tax collection agencies in Benin City by adopting modern
technologies such as e-taxation systems to reduce leakages, corruption, and bureaucratic
bottlenecks. Also efforts should be made to capture the informal sector into the tax net
through simplified tax procedures, awareness campaigns, and incentives that encourage
voluntary compliance.

This study examined the impact of audit committee effectiveness on financial reporting quality among one hundred (100) Nigerian listed companies from 2019 to 2024. Despite governance reforms under CAMA (2020) and the NCCG (2018), concerns remain about earnings management and reporting credibility. The study analyzed audit committee attributes, independence, financial expertise, size, meeting frequency, and committee effectiveness, using a quantitative panel design and fixed-effects regression. Financial reporting quality was measured using a composite index covering accrual quality, timeliness, audit opinion quality, and disclosure compliance.
Results show that independence, financial expertise, meeting frequency, and committee effectiveness significantly improve financial reporting quality, with financial expertise being the strongest predictor. Audit committee size was not significant. Among control variables, company size and committee independence positively affect reporting quality, while leverage has a negative effect. The study concludes that competence and active engagement enhance governance effectiveness more than structural compliance and recommends strengthening expertise, independence, meeting practices, etc.

This study examines the effect of digitalization on tax compliance in Nigeria, focusing on digital literacy, digital skills, digital platforms, and e-filing systems. The study was prompted by Nigeria’s efforts to modernize its tax administration through digital technology, aiming to improve revenue generation and voluntary compliance. A quantitative research design was adopted, and data were collected from 375 respondents. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression techniques with the aid of E-Views 14.0.
The regression results revealed that digital literacy had a negative and significant effect on tax compliance in the short term, indicating that initial adaptation challenges may hinder compliance. Digital skills showed a positive but statistically insignificant effect, while digital platforms and e-filing recorded negative coefficients, with e-filing being marginally significant. The overall model was statistically significant, explaining about 22.4% of the variation in tax compliance. Diagnostic tests confirmed the model’s reliability, showing no evidence of autocorrelation or heteroskedasticity.
The findings imply that although digitalization enhances accessibility, transparency, and efficiency, behavioral and institutional barriers—such as low digital literacy, system inefficiencies, and limited trust in digital systems—continue to constrain its effectiveness. The study concludes that digitalization alone cannot ensure improved tax compliance unless supported by continuous taxpayer education, user-friendly systems, and strong institutional frameworks. It recommends capacity building, infrastructure improvements, and public sensitization to strengthen the positive impact of digital transformation on tax compliance in Nigeria.

The board objective of this study is to examine the impact of Value Added Tax on consumption level in Nigeria. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of value added tax on household purchasing decisions and consumption, saving and investment behaviour among households in Nigeria, and poverty levels and household welfare in Nigeria.
The study used a primary data collected from 100 households in Ugbowo Benin-city, Edo State. Various statistical and econometric tool were applied to analyze the data. The results revealed that value-added tax has a negative and statistically significant impact on household purchasing decisions and consumption and saving and investment behaviour among households in Nigeria, but a positive and statistically significant impact on poverty levels and household welfare in Nigeria.
Based on the findings, the study recommended that government should consider reducing VAT rates on essential goods and services to enhance consumer purchasing power and stimulate aggregate demand and policymakers should introduce targeted tax reliefs or exemptions for savings and investment-related products to encourage household financial growth despite VAT pressures.

The informal economy is a good percentage of economic activates in Nigeria including activities that are not within the ambit of formal regulatory mechanism. An informal economy that are small-scale enterprises, street hawkers, and other self- employed activities come together to provide a large chunk of employment and energizes the economy (Osemeke, Nzekwu & Okere, 2020). The national Bureau of Statistics estimated that the informal sector takes about 65 percent of total employment (NBS, 2022), with about 50 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). With this much relevance, challenges in regard to compliance with tax remain rampant at the level of the informal sector mainly because many of the operators stay out of the formal tax framework. Lately, innovations in the digital world, especially mobile payment platforms, have cropped up as potential mechanisms for raising the level of tax compliance among operators of the informal sector (Iredele, Ogunleye & Obe, 2018).

This study examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on audit efficiency, with a specific focus on selected professional organizations in Benin City, Nigeria. Employing a survey research design, the study gathered data from 50 respondents across various industries using structured questionnaires. The analysis utilized both correlation and linear regression techniques to assess the relationship between AI components—Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Predictive Analytics—and audit efficiency. The findings reveal that Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics significantly enhance audit efficiency, as evidenced by their strong positive correlations and statistically significant regression coefficients. These technologies contribute to improved financial reporting accuracy, enhanced fraud detection, and reduced audit risks. Conversely, NLP and RPA did not show statistically significant effects, suggesting that their integration into audit workflows may be limited or at a developmental stage

The study examines the effect of firm characteristics and financial reporting quality in Nigerian quoted companies. Financial reporting quality is to provide high- quality of financial reporting information concerning economic entities, primarily financial in nature, useful for economic decision making. The research design adopted in this study falls within the paradigm of robust panel data design type which is the combination of both cross-sectional and time series design properties, the study uses archival data in the form of companies’ annual reports and analyzed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method regression, was the statistical tool used for the data analysis and test of hypotheses, using a sample of 30 companies listed in Nigerian Stock Exchange. The results indicate that profitability was positively and significantly associated with
financial reporting quality proxy by discretionary accrual. It was also found that negative and insignificant relationship exists between financial leverage and financial reporting
quality proxy by discretionary in Nigerian quoted companies. The study therefore, recommends that companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange to reduce their
financial leverage as this may tends toward financial reporting quality in Nigerian firms.