Corporate governance and management of earnings: empirical evidence from selected Nigerian-listed companies

Due to the threat of recorded business failures arising from weak corporate governance and low financial reporting quality on the Nigerian economy, this study investigates the effects of corporate governance variables on earnings management among selected listed firms from the manufacturing and banking sectors. A sample of 24 listed companies from the 2 sectors’ population of 63 was examined to gather empirical data from 2008 to 2013 using multiple regression tools. Employing the panel data analysis approach, board independence, audit committee independence and audit committee size are insignificantly positively correlated with earnings management. Board size is insignificantly negatively correlated with earnings management while ownership structure is insignificantly negatively correlated with earnings management. Audit quality is positively correlated with earnings management, though not statistically significant. Based on these findings, the study concludes that corporate governance structures, as it were, have not helped to address earnings management. The study recommends, among other things considering the first 4 hypotheses that investors should invest in companies with moderate-to-high debt-to-equity ratios as lenders are able to externally monitor companies. It also recommended that regulatory bodies should frequently discharge their supervisory roles by monitoring the companies’ activities to ensure compliance