http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
investigation of corporate governance mechanisms and audit quality on earning management among Nigerian listed companies
The issue of earnings manipulations of the financial report is attracting the attention of researchers, practitioners and relevant authorities in the best interest of the global users. igerian corporations are involved in financial scandals; specifically, the contemporary revealing by the Nigerian Security and xchange Commission (SEC) provided thoughtful questions related to the effectiveness and reliability of the reported accounting earnings. SEC which is the highest regulator of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), delisted 35 companies in recent five years due to accounting scandals. The main objective of the tudy is to examine the direct and indirect relationship between Corporate Governance attribute and audit quality on Earning Management. The population of the study comprises all the 169 firms listed from 2012 until 2017. A total of 63 companies ware used as a sample after the filtration and screening criteria employed by the study. The data used is from secondary sources using data stream, annual reports and accounts of the companies. Thus, a balanced panel data of 378 finn-year observations were tested using multiple regression analysis to satisfy the mediation conditions proposed by Baron and Kenny. The analysis was carried out based on four phases of the conditions; as such, each phase represented a single objective of the study. The finding of objective one reveals that board size, (BODSIZE), board independent (BODINDEP) and audit committee gender (ACWGEND) are positively significant with accrual Earnings Management (AEM). Contrary to that, board gender (BODGEND) and audit committee accounting expertise (ACAEXPT) is negatively significant with AEM. Thus, audit committee size (ACSIZE), and audit committee meetings (ACMEET) are negatively insignificant with AEM. In the second objective of the analysis, the result highlighted a significant positive relationship between BODSIZE, ACSIZE and ACMEET with l it Quality (AQ) using Audit Fees (AUFEES) as a proxy. While the result of BODGEND and ACAEXPT ar po itively insignificant with AQ. In contradiction to that, a significant negative relationship was documented between BODINDEP and ACWGEND with AQ. The analysis of objective three established a significant positive relationship among AUFES and AEM, which means that higher audit fee is associated with high AEM. Moreover, the meditational model for objective four reveals that AUFEES partially mediate only the relationships amongst the BODSIZE, BODINDEP, ACWGEND and AEM. This finding will help the investors to make a rational decision on their investment, it will also contribute academically to the existing literature, and it will help the relevant authorities to improve on the current practices of corporate governance. It is recommended that the relevant authority should, in the review of subsequent Codes, recognise the presence of legal expertise in the board of directors and audit committee, as they are found to be monitors in constraining the artificial implementation of good govemance. Also, emphasis should be placed on gender diversity and their experience in the board and audit committee, rather than relying on their status.
1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review -- 3. Theoretical and research framework with hypotheses development -- 4. Research methodology -- 5. Results and discussion -- 6. Summary, conclusion and recommendations
Thesis (Degree of Doctor of Philosophy) - Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, 2020
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-276)