EFFECT OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF NIGERIA QUOTED COMPANIES (2010-2015)

ABSTRACT

The study examines the effect of Corporate Governance on Earnings Management practices in Nigeria listed firms.  Specifically the study examined the joint effect of board size, board independent and audit committee independent, Board size, Board Independence and Audit committee independence on earnings management. This is premised on the increasing failure of firms in Nigeria and which translate into the inability of organizations to meet the expectations of their various stakeholders and to adhere to a mandatory compliance to corporate governance codes.  The modified Jones model was adopted for non discretional accrual while simple and multiple regression was explored to investigate the corporate governance element on earnings management practices in Nigeria quoted companies. Four research hypotheses were formulated for the study.  Data for this study were sourced from the financial statement of twelve firms from the period of 2010-2015. These data were analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version -23. The study revealed that Corporate Governance Practices have significant influences on earnings management practice among Nigerian quoted firms.  Based on our findings, it was recommended that there should be constant review and improvement in the Nigeria corporate governance codes governing companies and other listed firms.  Secondly, the use of modified Jones models (earnings management models) in detecting certain types of accrual accounting should be encouraged, because they are substantially more powerful at detecting subtle and bad debt manipulations.