Governance Structure and Quality of Accounting Reports in Covid 19 Era

Abstract

This article investigated the impact of governance structure on the quality of accounting reports produced by firms operating in Nigeria during the pandemic. The study was carried out using the ex-post facto research design. The information was derived from the annual reports and accounts of firms listed on the Nigeria Exchange Group between 2011 and 2020. The correlation between corporate governance indicators of board structure (size-BRDSZ and independence-BRDID), audit quality (audit committee size (ADCMZ), the quality of external audit (EADTQ as measured by the presence of an auditor among the big-4), board experience (i.e. experience-BRDEX), and financial reporting quality is 93.47 percent, according to econometric analysis. The independent variables can explain 54.29 percent of the variance in the FRQDA. There is general relevance among the metrics assessing financial reporting quality, such as corporate discretionary accruals (FRQDA). The COVID-19 pandemic has a beneficial influence on board structure (BRDSZ), board experience (BRDEX), and external audit quality (EADTQ). Furthermore, as a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic, independent directors on the board of company (independence-BRDID) and audit quality (audit committee size (ADCMZ) have a detrimental impact on financial reporting quality as evaluated by the firm's discretionary accruals (FRQDA). As a result, the research advised that a higher emphasis be placed on corporate governance indicators in order to achieve global standard financial reporting in the Nigerian growing market for investment opportunities.