Digital transformation holds significant promise for revolutionizing education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper examines the challenges of digital transformation in education in the SSA region. We observed that the challenges are multifaced, including infrastructure deficits, access and equity barriers, digital literacy gaps, financial constraints, policy challenges, and regulatory barriers. To overcome these challenges, the paper offers some recommendations that can help the SSA countries to unlock the transformative power of digital technologies to advance education, empower learners, and build a brighter future. Amongst other, the paper suggests that stakeholders must adopt an integrated approach to infrastructure development, promote equitable access and inclusion, invest in capacity building and skills development, localize educational content, mobilize financial resources, enact policy and regulatory reforms, and foster collaborative partnerships.

Objective: The process of credits transfer is often facilitated by the financial intermediaries, including banks and non-bank institutions. his article offers an insight on the various theories of intermediation. The first scrutinises the various theoretical conceptualizations found in varied models which demonstrate the roles of intermediaries. The second offers a concise discuss on the relevance of the theories to current situation of intermediation and intermediaries in Nigeria. Method: The paper is based on theoretical reviews. The study used the approach to appraise the issues on financial intermediation and of intermediaries. Result and Discussion: The study finds that financial intermediation is fast changing as new types of economic players enter and new financial tools evolve. Moreso, that the financial markets have become more dominated by extensive intermediaries. We note that the development cryptocurrencies have largely affected the ways of intermediation, and this has effect on asset pricing theory. Implications: The theory and evidence on financial intermediation have important implications for the capital market. Originality: The study offers information related to theoretical perspectives on financial intermediation and intermediaries. The value of the paper is evidenced by the fact that it provides background on financial intermediation and intermediaries. Recommendations: The paper concludes that other means of intermediation that involve decentralised exchanged are continuously developing and this has implications for the current theory of intermediation. The study recommends the need for development of more details theory that consider the nature and effect of decentralised finance and decentralised exchange on the optimality of capital allocation.

Purpose: There is evidence that managers engage in opportunistic practice to manipulate reported performance to attract unsuspecting investors. This paper seeks to detect the likelihood of manipulations on the financial reports of financial service firms (banks and other financial institutions) as well as to identify the financial indicators that are the likely predictors of the probability of manipulations in Nigeria.   Theoretical framework: The M-score models, from Beneish (1999), are employed as theoretical basis for the paper. The model use financial ratios computed using accounting data to confirm the probability that firms’ reported earnings are manipulated.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses data from the Nigerian Exchange Group, from 2010 to 2019 to compute M8/M5-scores and classify firms into likely manipulators and unlikely manipulators. In addition, a probit regression model was applied to establish financial ratios that significantly predict the likelihood of FSF amongst the financial firms. Findings: The results based on M8 (M5)-score indicate that 26.67% (23.33%) of firms likely manipulate financial books and exhibit the possibility of FSF. In addition, only sales in receivable, sales growth, depreciation expenses, leverage and accruals to assets ratios are found to be (positive) significant predictors of the probability of manipulations.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The implication of the outcome is that subjecting financial statements to empirical and statistical scrutiny should not be ignored because it would detect and reduce associated risks to manipulations. Therefore, more regulatory interventions and empirical auditing of reports are needed to ensure their readability and reliability to the investors.   Originality/Value: The study offers a novel and first evidence, based on Beneish M-score, to scrutinise reports of financial firms in Nigeria. The evidence ensures quality reporting of the financial statements in order to credibility as well as protect the integrity of the capital markets.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the accrual-based managed earnings behavior of firms in Nigeria. The panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) multivariate method was employed to analyze firm-level data for 125 firms and covers the 11 sectors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The results of the Welch–Satterthwaite test show a significant difference between the pre-adoption (2003–2011) and post adoption (2012–2020) discretionary accruals. These variables conformed to the a priori expectation and are all significant in the most parsimonious models. Contrary to some developed countries, the data does not support the idea that leverage, growth, and book-to-market value influence managed earnings for Nigeria. Managed earnings are not solely time-driven but are explained by certain firm characteristics (IFRS adoption, post-adoption firm-size, post-adoption audit firm’s size, returns on equity and asset turnover). Future research could explore opportunities in the areas of limitation we identified.