Sustainability Policy Disclosure, International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption, and Audit Report Lag among Listed Nigerian Firms

This study examines the relationship between sustainability policy disclosure and audit report lag among listed Nigerian firms upon IFRS adoption. Sustainability policy is a demand of the 2018 FRCN Corporate Governance Code, and its disclosure is thought to affect Firms' audit report lag, particularly in the post-IFRS adoption period owing to more financial information disclosure demands of IFRS. The study employs an ex-post-facto research design and the technique of Panel Least Square to investigate the relationship between sustainability policy disclosure and audit report lag, pre, and post-IFRS. Findings revealed that IFRS was not statistically significant, implying that IFRS adoption has little or no effect on this relationship. Also, the variables of environmental policy and local community disclosures were statistically significant with ARL in the pre-IFRS period. Therefore, the study recommends, among others, the disclosure of sustainability policy in listed firms' annual reports, as it can attract 'good prospective investors.'