THE TRENDS OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL DISCLOSURES: EVIDENCE FROM THE NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR.
Purpose - this paper longitudinally examine the intellectual capital (IC) disclosures practice of Nigerian banks following the restructuring exercise and the subsequent policy changes in the banking sector.
Design/Methodology/Approach - content analysis of annual reports of the banks was carried out over a period of four years (2006-2009), a period following the consolidation exercise and the subsequent introduction of the mandatory code of corporate governance. A self-constructed IC disclosure checklist was used to measure the extent of IC information disclosed in the annual reports. A number of statistical techniques were performed to assess the trend of IC disclosures and compare the IC disclosure categories.
Findings – the results show that the overall IC disclosures of the Nigerian banks increased moderately over the four year period. Human and internal capital disclosures dominated the banks’ IC disclosures, with only internal capital disclosures showing a significant increasing trend over time.
Research limitations/Implications – the increasing trend of IC disclosures of the banks suggest that the introduction of the mandatory code of corporate governance ad positive implications on IC reporting practices. Hence, the findings of this study give support to previous research that established a strong positive association between IC disclosures and corporate governance development. However, this study only examines the IC disclosures of Nigerian banks following the reformation of the banking sector. Future research should incorporate other countries experiencing similar regulatory changes
