Earnings Management and Corporate Governance. An Investigation ofFinancial Statement Reporting of Publicly Listed Companies in Nigeria (PDF)

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: Great Distinction, UGSM-Monarch Business School Switzerland (Accounting and Finance), course: Doctor of Philosophy in Finance, language: English, abstract: The dissertation examined Earnings Management and Corporate Governance Governance Practices of the firms that are listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The researcher investigated the published financial statements of all the listed companies across all the sectors of the exchange using empirical quantitative research methods. Al the variables of earnings management were extracted from the published annual financial statements and Directors Annual Reports through Content Analysis. The paper further explored all the variables of corporate governance as published by the Directors in the Annual Reports in the Financial Statements and through a face to face recorded interviews of the members of the Board of Directors, the members of the Audit Committees and the Heads of Internal Audit Functions in the Listed Public Companies.

The study documented that companies that are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange are involved in both the upward and downward earnings management practices. This findings cut across all the Sectors and categorization of the companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The research thus recommended the need for better oversight by the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee and the Market Regulators mainly the Security and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The findings of the Research on Corporate Governance is mixed. In certain sectors, evidence of strong corporate governance are documented as reflected in the quality of Board Members, the Quality of the deliberations at the Board meetings, the independence of the Board, the independence of the Audit Committee and the independence and effectiveness of the Head of the Internal Audit function measured by the reporting line of the holder of this role. In some sectors, the ingredients of strong corporate governance were missing thus suggesting a need for a more stricter regime of corporate governance to be implemented in these corporations.