UBA… Still Blazing The Trail! ….An Analysis By: Eyitayo Mustapha & Samuel Olalekan Mustapha

Leading Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa Limited recently released its financial statement for the first quarter of its 2020 financial year with an impressive  “double-digit improvement across all its major income lines”; a performance attributed to the bank’s commitment to improving from its last financial performance.

The process of reaching important business decisions in banks requires a solid information basis; ably provided by good financial accounting information system. This system collects, classifies, records and aggregates business operations that are performed in banks.

The quality of financial statements affects the interest of investors. Apart from being financial institutions, UBA operates in the way all other enterprises do…trade in goods and services across global socio-economic strata.

Over the years, and going by evaluation indices, UBA has consistently aim at reaching their goals, protecting the shareholders’ interests and maximizing profit by using other people’s money while at the same time being absolutely compliaint under the control of financial regulatory institutions in the national and international levels.

Interestingly, UBA in this financial statement provides solid information basis for making investment, loan and other economic decisions. In that regard, this report serves as platform process of preparing and providing quantitative information to its publics, i.e. decision makers.

With the purpose of fair presentation of financial position, profitability and cash flows, UBA has offered the possibility of choosing among alternative financial ventures and accounting procedures, evaluations and policies in the process of investment options.

With the purpose of meeting its defined goals, UBA constructed its entire financial infrastructure  on the following five “golden principles” established by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank: transparency, solid financial system, involvement of the private sector, well-planned capital flow, liberalization international market modernization.

Prepared in accordance with the above-mentioned “golden principles”, UBA’s financial statement for the first quarter of 2020  stands as a communication channel with its financial  users and stakeholders.

As the information basis for evaluating key financial performances, the first quarter 2020 financial statement of UBA reflects the motivation and navigation needed in the process of making adequate business decisions.

As in the case of commercial enterprises, sources of information needed in the process of making business decisions in banks are found in basic financial statements: balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, statements of changes in equity and notes to the financial statements.

What is more, specific banking operations require some specific statements, such as the statement of maturity match of receivables and liabilities. Some specific statements are prepared on a daily basis to provide their users (managers, creditors, depositors, shareholders, government bodies) with the possibility of assessing the bank’s solvency.

Through this  financial statement for the first quarter of 2020, UBA has once again justified the mutual confidence, trust and reliability reposed in it by its stakeholders with an unflinching hope of future better performance!