Loan Loss Provisions, Earnings Smoothing and Capital Management Under IFRS: The Case of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

The paper examines the impact of IFRS adoption on the use of loan loss provisions (LLPs) to manage earnings and capital by listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study employed an ex-post facto research design and a sample of fourteen (14) Deposit Money Banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Data was obtained from 2009 to 2014 to capture the pre- and post- IFRS adoption periods. Using paired sample t-test, we find quantitative evidence to the effect that there are significant increase in the means of loan loss provisioning, and capital management by Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria in the post IFRS adoption period compared to the pre-IFRS adoption period. However, the levels of earnings smoothing are significantly lower in the post IFRS period. The implication of this finding is that adoption of IFRS improved earnings quality in the sense of reduced earnings smoothing.