EFFECT OF BOARD DIVERSITY ATTRIBUTES ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF LISTED CONSUMER GOODS MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The core principle of corporate governance in Nigeria is how to make those in the management of the companies more accountable, responsible and sensitive to the interest of shareholders, creditors and members of the public. The issue of board diversity as drivers of effective corporate governance has continued to be a subject of debate among professionals, practitioners and players in commerce. Therefore, this study examined the effect of board diversity attributes on earnings management of listed consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study adopts expost facto research design whereby data was sourced mainly from the audited annual financial reports of selected consumer goods manufacturing firms on the Nigerian Exchange Group for the period 2004-2022. The population of the study consists of twenty one (21) consumer goods manufacturing firms in Nigeria as at 2024. The sample size of ten (10) consumer goods manufacturing firms in Nigeria was arrived at using purposive sampling technique whereby consumer goods manufacturing firms which have their annual report and accounts readily accessible for the study period were selected. Analytical techniques used in the study consist of both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics employed include minimum, maximum, mean and standard deviation while Panel regression analysis was used to test the study objective. Panel regression analysis was used to examine the effect of board diversity attributes on earnings management. Findings from the result of panel regression analysis on the effect of board diversity attributes on earnings management of listed consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria showed that two out of the five (5) explanatory variables was significant in explaining the variation of earnings management. These variables are CEOduality (p=0.0400) and Female Director (p=0.0317), Based on the findings, the study therefore concluded that there is relationship between corporate board diversity and earnings management of listed consumer goods manufacturing firms in Nigeria The study recommend that board should comprise individuals with varied expertise in finance, law, marketing, and operations to address a wide range of issues and enhance decision-making processes.