ABSTRACT

This work examines the effect of the corporate Governance Attributes on earnings of quoted consumer goods of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Specifically the study set out to achieve the following objective: to examine the effect of  the board size on earnings per share (EPS) of consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria; to investigate the effect of the board independence on Earnings per share (EPS) of consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria; to determine the effect of the Audit Committee Size on earnings per share (EPS) of consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria and to examine the effect of the frequency of board meetings on earnings per share (EPS) of consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Data for the study were extracted from the annual reports of the selected quoted manufacturing firms. The Hypotheses were subjected to statistical test using the Hausman Test and Panel Technique of the multiple regression analyses methods. A significant outcome of the study is that corporate Governance attributes have positive and significant relationship with the earnings of quoted consumer goods manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Specifically, Board meetings, Board independence, Board size all have positive relationship with earnings per share of the quoted consumer goods manufacturing companies. However, the relationship of Board independence, though it was positive, it was also insignificant. Furthermore, the size of the audit committee had negative and insignificant relationship with earnings of the quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms. A major implication of these findings is that compliance with code of corporate governance as issued by regulatory authorities will support enhanced the Earnings of Manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Accordingly, the study recommends among other things that Quoted Manufacturing companies in Nigeria should be encouraged to comply with code of corporate governance since it enhances their Earnings. Conclusively, the study has shown that the right application of corporate governance attributes in Nigeria will be of immense benefit to all corporate stakeholders.