ABSTRACT

The world economy and the organizations that comprise it have witnessed it significant transformation in human and tangible asset valuation with regards to decision making and profitability. The old economy was manufacturing-based and heavily relied on tangible assets as determinants of value, while the present day economy is human knowledge and information driven. This shift induced significant investments in humans and triggered off enquiries for the development of accounting tools for measuring and reporting human resources costs and value as assets. To this end, the purpose of this study is to assess the utility of capitalization as a new procedure for accounting for human resources costs and to evaluate the effect which such treatment could have on investment decision making with regards to profitability and value of firms. Survey data were obtained from 150 respondents to research designed instrument. Networth of Access Bank Plc, Nigeria were also extracted for the period 2007 to 2008, and there human resources costs for the same period capitalized in line with the Methodology adopted Otter (2007). Data were analyzed using Regression and Chi-square. Our results reveals that accounting for human resources costs as human asset figuratively presented in the organization's financial statement provided long term benefits and suggests that such treatment has special relevance in investment decision making and organization's profitability. Despite identified ideological and practical challenges to human resources accounting, the work as a matter of urgency canvasses and solicit for the practical adoption of human resources accounting by incorporated entities and 8inclusive of small scale enterprises in Nigeria, and primarily recommends policy actions to be taken by supervisory and regulatory bodies in accountancy profession and stakeholders of corporate entities in Nigeria to improve the reliability and information content of financial statements in the with changes in our operating environment.