CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF LISTED FOOD AND BEVERAGES FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated corporate governance and earnings management of listed food and beverage manufacturing firms in Nigeria with a focus on audit committee meetings, board composition, board size and institutional shareholding. The study had a population of thirteen (13) manufacturing firms in the food and beverages sector and a sample size of six (6) firms was arrived at after the firms met a criterion that was established by the study. Data was gathered using annual reports and accounts of the sampled firms through secondary method of data collection. The data was analysed using OLS multiple regression technique through the application of STATA. The findings revealed that only institutional shareholding had a significant positive relationship with earnings management while audit committee meetings and board size had a positive insignificant relationship with earnings management. It was recommended amongst others that regulatory authorities should discourage institutional shareholding of listed foods and beverages manufacturing firms in Nigeria to reduce the rate of earnings management which leads to poor credibility of financial information.