Board Attributes and Value of Listed Insurance Companies in Nigeria: The Mediating effect of Earnings Quality

Abstract

Effective administration of a firm depends largely on the quality and commitment of the board of directors, who are expected to control the activities of the firm based on ethical and professional standards to ensure that corporate affairs are in line with corporate objectives. This study examines the mediating effect of earnings quality on the relationship between corporate board attributes and the value of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. The study utilized secondary sources of data collected from annual reports of the sampled companies for the periods 2009 to 2018. The population of the study comprises of all twenty seven (27) insurance companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange, out of which fifteen (15) were selected as study sample. Data generated were examined by means of descriptive statistics to provide summary statistics for the variables and subsequently, correlation analysis was carried out using Pearson correlation technique for the correlation between the dependent, independent variables and the mediating variable. Path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling was used; also Monte Carlo’s test was employed to determine the significant of the indirect effect. It was found that board size, board meetings and women directorship significantly affect firm value. It also reveals that board size and board independence significantly affects earnings quality of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. Furthermore, the study finds that earnings quality does not significantly mediates the relationship between board size, board independence, women director, board meeting and firm value. However, it is mediating partially. This indicates that board attributes through the quality of the reported earnings a higher firm value will be achieved. Hence the study concludes that the direct association between boards attributes mechanisms and firm value is more crucial than their indirect association mediated by the earnings quality. Thus, the study recommends that investors should pay more attention to companies with high number of directors, as provided in the NAICOM code of corporate governance. Also, in order to have proper checking by independent directors, NAICOM should also ensure a strict adherence to the provision of the code to improve the quality of earnings and enhance the value of the listed insurance companies in Nigeria.