Corporate Governance and Accounting Conservatism in Nigeria: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of Corporate Governance (represented by Asymmetric Timeliness Measure and Market To Book Ratio) on accounting conservatism (represented by Gender Composition of the Board, Composition of Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee) of quoted firms in Nigeria. Ex-post facto research design was used. The population of this study comprised 17 food and beverage firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) as at December 31st, 2021 from which 14 were selected by Purposive sampling technique. The study period was 10 years (2012 to 2021). Data were obtained from the published audited financial statements. The study used descriptive and inferential statistics for data analysis. Findings from the study revealed that Corporate Governance jointly had no significant effect on Asymmetric Timeliness Measure (ATM), AdjR2 = 0.035; F (6, 133) = 1.84, P-Value= 0.09 and Market To Book Ratio (MTB), AdjR2= 0.109; F = 11.70, P-Value= 0.07. This study concluded that Corporate Governance had no significant impact on Accounting Conservatism of quoted firms in Nigeria. It was recommended that policy makers should pay close attention to corporate governance policies and measures such as the Gender Composition of the Board, Composition of Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee in order to enhance accounting conservatism and bring about accounting conservatism and by extension improve the quality of financial statements.