DOI: 10.36347/sjebm.2016.v03i05.002

Pages: 252-257

The globalization of economic systems as part of the move towards turning the world to a global village has not left the financial reporting and the accounting system and has propelled the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). The International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) as a professional body set to oversee the implementation and maintenance of IFRS discovered through case studies that the implementation of IFRS in countries with different economic culture have introduced different versions of the IFRS. In line with this, this paper is a critical insight on the adoption of IFRS in Nigeria, looking at its history, benefits, challenges and lessons which will help countries that are yet to adopt IFRS in charting their course; the paper discovered that Nigeria have experienced the benefits of IFRS mostly in its international transaction as a developing nation; that Nigeria is using the gradual convergence method; that some of the local GAAP is conflicting with the IFRS when it gets to local circumstances because some of those domestic financial reporting policies have not been amended to accommodate IFRS; these challenges were surmised under: Existing Laws and Regulations, Costs of Implementation, Technology and Technical Capacity, Level of Awareness, Level of Education and Enforcement. The position of this paper is that the urgency in the adoption of is a positive move towards Nigeria’s economic development with better adoption options as a way forward.