THE EFFECT OF BOARD CHARACTERISTICS ON REAL EARNINGS MANIPULATION OF LISTED CONGLOMERATE FIRMS IN NIGERIA

This study examined the effect of board characteristics on real earnings manipulation of listed Conglomerate firms in Nigeria. The sample size used is the entire six (6) conglomerate firms listed in the Nigerian Exchange group (NXG) for the period 2015-2024. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression method was used to analyze the data. The key results were that board size, board meeting and board independence have positive and significant effect on the real earnings manipulation of listed conglomerate firms in Nigeria. However, board gender diversity has no significant impact on real manipulation of listed conglomerate firms in Nigeria. Whereby, Audit committee depicts a negative insignificant influence on real manipulation of listed conglomerate firms in Nigeria. The research recommends that the management of listed conglomerate firms in Nigeria should consider more numbers of executive directors in the composition of the board of directors and establish a policy that would restrict the number of meetings board hold in a financial year based on code of corporate governance. The stakeholders of the listed conglomerate firms should include more female directorships in the board to ensure gender inclusion empowering female members with all necessary power to discharge their task. This will surely help in reducing managers’ financial mismanagement. Finally, audit committee should be involved in all their financial operations to ensure earnings manipulation be lessened.