This study examines stock market reaction and the impact of IFRS adoption on the Nigerian stock market. The paper also evaluates the effect of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reforms on earnings management of Nigerian banks. The result indicates no evidence of any significant effect on the market but a negative stock reaction in the medium term. Our finding highlights mixed impact of IFRS adoption on earnings management; but a significant decrease in earnings management in the post CBN reforms. Our study shows that adoption of IFRS was wrongly timed in Nigeria as the fragile investors' sentiment which was just recovering from the shock of the global financial crisis could have been weakened by the negative market returns. These results have signal effect on investors.