FINANCIAL ETHICS AND THE QUALITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTING IN NIGERIAN BANKING SECTOR

This study examined the relationship between financial ethics and the quality of financial reporting in the Nigerian banking sector. The research adopted an ex-post facto research design, utilizing secondary data from annual reports of fifteen (15) selected deposit money banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group over a ten-year period (2015-2024). The study was guided by three specific objectives: to determine the effect of ethical leadership on financial reporting quality, to assess the impact of corporate governance ethics on financial reporting transparency, and to evaluate the influence of professional ethical standards on financial statement reliability in Nigerian banks. Three research questions and corresponding hypotheses were formulated to guide the investigation. The theoretical framework was anchored on Stakeholder Theory and Agency Theory. Multiple regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses at 5% level of significance. Findings revealed that ethical leadership positively and significantly affects financial reporting quality (β = 0.547, p < 0.05), corporate governance ethics significantly enhances financial reporting transparency (β = 0.623, p < 0.05), and professional ethical standards have a significant positive influence on financial statement reliability (β = 0.489, p < 0.05). The study concluded that financial ethics is a critical determinant of financial reporting quality in Nigerian banks. It was recommended that banking regulators should strengthen ethical compliance frameworks, banks should integrate ethics training into continuous professional development programs, and the Central Bank of Nigeria should mandate periodic ethical audits for all deposit money banks.