The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released its audited financial statements for 2013 and 2014 operating years which reflected a net income of N209.6 billion in 2013 compared with N35.4 billion in 2014.
This is just as the apex banking sector regulatory institution disclosed that it had fully adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the financial statements which had been approved by its Board.
Analysts have attributed the drop in the bank’s net income to possibly the costs of transiting from the National Accounts standards to the IFRS, the nation’s oil market-triggered fiscal challenges in the second half of last year as well as the lingering financial headwinds globally and their rippling implications for national financial systems.
The IFRS, one of the frameworks internationally recognised and accepted, mandates adopters of the framework to prepare consolidated financial statements. A statement by the bank yesterday on the financial statements indicated that the bank’s net income for 2013 amounted to N209.6 billion while that of 2014 was N35.4 billion.
It reported further that out of the 2014 net earnings, 80 per cent of it had since been remitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act while the balance of 20 per cent was also transferred to the Reserves within the Bank.
The IFRS requirement implies that the financial statement of the CBN be consolidated with those of investee entities, namely Nigeria Export-Import Bank, Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, National Economic Reconstruction Fund, Financial Markets Dealers Quotation, African Finance Corporation and Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund.
Thus, the bank now has full IFRS-compliant financial statements for the years ended 31st December 2013 and 31stDecember 2014, respectively. Hitherto, the bank’s financial statements had been prepared under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) framework.