ATTRIBUTES

This study investigated the relationship between board attributes and financial reporting quality among listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The board attributes examined include board independence, board gender diversity, board meeting frequency, board size, and multiple committee membership. Discretionary accruals were employed as proxy for financial reporting quality, while firm-specific characteristics such as profitability, firm size, and audit fees were included as control variables. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The sample consists of a census of all twenty (20) consumer goods companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) over a 12-year period (2013–2024), resulting in a final sample of 232 unbalanced firm-year observations. The study adopted a fixed effect panel regression technique, with model selection justified using the Hausman specification test. The empirical results revealed that board independence, board gender diversity, and board meeting frequency have insignificant relationship with financial reporting quality. Bboard size exhibits a positive and significant relationship with discretionary accruals, suggesting that larger boards are associated with lower financial reporting quality. Multiple committee membership is found to have a negative and significant relationship with discretionary accruals, indicating that overlapping committee membership enhances financial reporting quality. Among the control variables, profitability and firm size are negatively and significantly related to discretionary accruals, while audit fees show a positive and significant relationship. The study suggests that board members serve on more than one committee to ensure effective oversight function, but caution should be exercised to avoid overwhelming a board member with work load.

This study examines the effect of firm-specific attributes on the financial reporting quality of banks in Nigeria, focusing on firm size, profitability, board independence, audit committee effectiveness, and leverage. Anchored on Agency Theory, Signaling Theory, and Stakeholder Theory, the study explores how internal characteristics influence managerial incentives, stakeholder communication, and governance mechanisms to ensure transparent and reliable financial reporting. Using panel data from 12 Nigerian deposit money banks over the period 2018 to 2023, the study employed the Fixed Effect Method for estimation alongside Hausman tests, residual cointegration tests, and cross- section dependence tests to analyze the relationships between variables. The findings indicate that firm size and leverage negatively affect financial reporting quality, while profitability, board independence, audit committee effectiveness, and ownership positively influence reporting quality. Hypothesis testing revealed that firm size and leverage significantly impact reporting quality, whereas profitability, board independence, and audit committee effectiveness demonstrate strong positive relationships with high- quality disclosures. These results align with previous empirical studies and reinforce the importance of governance mechanisms and firm characteristics in promoting credible financial reporting. The study recommends strengthening internal governance structures, optimizing board and committee composition, and enhancing managerial accountability to improve financial reporting quality in Nigerian banks. Keywords: financial reporting quality, firm-specific attributes, board independence, audit committee effectiveness, leverage, firm size, profitability, Nigerian banks, Fixed Effect Method

This study examined firm attributes and audit quality. The research aimed at assessing the impact of firm attributes on audit quality, identify key indicators of audit quality and evaluate the relationship between various variables of firm attributes and audit quality. Secondary data were collected from a target population which is made up of 13 deposit money banks that are currently quoted on the Nigeria Exchange Group for a period of 6years ranging from 2018 to 2023 using the annual report and accounts specifically the preliminary pages and financial statements. The study adopted a descriptive research design, with data analyzed using mean, median, standard deviation, skewness and urtosis.The analysis includes descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression results to determine the nature and significance of the relationships among the variables. Based on the findings, the study concludes that firm attributes have limited influence on audit quality, as most of the independent variables were not statistically significant in the regression model. This suggests that other factors, such as corporate governance mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, and auditor independence, may play a more substantial role in determining audit quality. while firm size, leverage, and audit firm size showed some level of association with audit quality, the results were not strong enough to draw definitive conclusions. These findings align with some previous studies that suggest firm-specific characteristics may not be the sole determinants of audit quality. Instead, audit quality may be more influenced by external regulatory oversight, the ethical conduct of auditors, and industry-specific factors. The study highlights the need for a broader approach to improving audit quality, considering governance structures, audit standards, and stakeholder expectations.