IMPROVING FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY OF NON-FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS THROUGH CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE EFFECTIVENESS: EMPIRICAL INSIGHTS FROM NIGERIA

Abstract

Many Nigerian businesses overlook the significance of enhancing financial reporting quality through the institutionalization of audit committees and other corporate governance systems. This study examines the effect of corporate governance structure on financial reporting quality of non-financial services firms. The research focuses on Nigeria and adopts an ex-post facto research design to obtain secondary data between 2015 and 2024 by purposively sampling fifty (50) out of the total population of one hundred and fifteen (115) listed non-financial firms on the Nigerian Exchange Group. The study applies random effect model regression technique for data analysis. Findings revealed that board size, board independent and audit committee effectiveness positively and significantly improve the financial reporting quality of non-financial services firms. This study concludes that corporate governance structure effectiveness improves the financial reporting quality of non-financial services firms in Nigeria and recommends that the regulators in Nigeria should institutionalize switching from a simple majority recommendation of independent directors to a stricter benchmark to increase the proportion of independent board members to further prevent financial reporting process from executive influence.