FOREWORD

This book contains Abstracts of Submitted works of the 10 th Edition of the Annual Conference of the Accounting and Finance Association (AFRA). This edition as hosted by the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus themed “Public and Business Ethics & Accountability in Developing Countries”, is unique in a variety of ways.

Firstly, it is a celebration of a decade of consistency and doggedness in gathering scholars for the purposes of brainstorming over, critiquing and producing academic works that continually enrich the knowledge bank of our society.

Secondly, it is a massive homecoming for a vast majority of AFRA members that Enugu , as a city with an inundation of Citadel of Learning, has produced. For AFRA, it is also like coming back to where it all started.

Thirdly, it is in this edition that a quantum leap has been made by the Association in the area of securing a dedicated Special Issue for top quality submissions. This is designed to provide a publishing platform in the International Journal of Business and Globalization (indexed in Scimago Journal Ranking (SJR) and Scopus) for the best of the lots of papers submitted for this conference. Fourthly, this years’ conference, as a child of necessity, is the first to adopt the blended (Virtual and Onsite) mode of participation.

In addition and most significantly, no other AFRA conference has recorded as many submissions as this 10 th Edition with a total of 93 papers and 3PhD Colloquia. This makes it a total of 96 submissions with over 120 authors in virtual and onsite attendance.

We know that AFRA is renowned for offering intellectually stimulating conferences blended with workshops, colloquia and specialized mentoring and training sessions. This edition promises to follow the same ancient landmark of this prestigious research-focused association. Although lots of efforts were put into improving the quality of the Abstracts and Submissions, the views and contents expressed in the respective works remain those of the authors and contributors. While thanking the Conferees for keeping faith with the association regardless the challenges posed by
the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the various protests and unrests across Nigeria; the Local Organising Committee thanks the President and the entire Executive Members for giving us the opportunity to be a part of the History of this great Association.

Ebere Ume Kalu PhD(Nig), ACIB
Chairman,
Local Organizing Committee (LOC), AFRA 2020-
Enugu Nigeria