Research earns TAMIU Ph.D. students 'Best Paper Award'

Caption: Collins Okafor, left, and Nacasius Ujah, right, both Ph.D. In International Business and Finance students at TAMIU, won the "Best Paper Award" and a "Presentation Excellence Award" for their paper, titled, "Unleashing the Cracken: Does Internet Financial Reporting Matter in Africa?"

In the academic community, publishing in a journal is a necessary rite of passage for a student to be considered a scholar.

Two Texas A&M International University doctoral students just crossed that threshold when their paper was awarded the "Best Paper Award" and their presentation a "Presentation Excellence Award" at a prestigious academic conference held recently.

Collins Okafor and Nacasius Ujah, both Ph.D. in International Business and Finance students at TAMIU, received their awards for their paper, titled, "Unleashing the Cracken: Does Internet Financial Reporting Matter in Africa?" They made their presentation at the Academic World International Conference 2010, held in May in Nashville, Tenn. Their paper will be published in the Fall issue of the International Journal of the Academic Business World.

"This is very encouraging," said Okafor, "It shows that the hard work that we put into this research paid off. We are proud ambassadors of TAMIU and would like to keep representing the university."

The students, originally from Nigeria, said they decided to write on their topic for a seminar in international accounting to know the extent to which the Internet plays a role in financial reporting by financial firms in Africa.

"We found that most of the articles that are out there on this topic focus on developed countries," Ujah said, "A few have discussed the impact of the Internet on financial reporting on some developing countries but none have referenced extensively on the continent of Africa. We saw this as a challenge and as an interesting topic for business practitioners and investors."

The paper examined several indicators such as company size, profitability and efficiency that would impact the need for financial firms to publish their financial statement on the Internet.

"What past findings of scholars have found in other regions is that profitability as well as size are of great importance as to why financial firms want to publish their financial statement on the Internet," Ujah explained, "What we find in Africa is interesting. There, profitability is not synonymous to the need to publish such information on the Internet."

Okafor said that while doctoral students are often advised to publish at least two academic journals during the course of their study, the two wish to accomplish even more.

"We are trying to push and to set a high standard," Okafor said, "We are not going by the minimum or maximum amount of published papers recommended. We have no limit. We are trying to set ourselves on a limitless platform. We also thank our professors for instilling in us the knowledge and drive to aim for the zenith."

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