Earnings Management, Audit Committee and Firm Value of Quoted Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

  • Omobolanle A. Ajibola
  • Israel S. Akinadewo
  • Olusola E. Igbekoyi
  • Oluwapomile J. Obamoyegun
Keywords: accruals, audit committee, audit committee independence, earnings management, firm value

Abstract

Financial scandals caused by the widespread overstating and manipulation of critical information in annual financial report of businesses are on the increase and users of the information are demanding transparency. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of earnings management and audit committee on firm value of quoted oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. The population of the study was the nine oil and gas firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as at 31st December, 2022. The study employed the nine firms as sample size using the census sampling technique. Data were obtained from the audited annual financial reports of the firms for a period of 2010-2022. Panel least square (PLS) was used in analysing the collected data. The study found that earnings management has significant negative effect on firm value and audit committee has insignificant effect on firm value. The moderating effect of audit committee independence was discovered to be significant over the relationship between earnings management and firm value using accruals as proxy of earnings management. The reverse was the result when earnings management was proxied with total assets and profit. The study concluded that earnings management is a significant underlying factor that can negatively influence the value of firms and cause decrease in its intrinsic value. It was recommended that investors should pay attention to corporate governance practice by companies especially the independence of the audit committee, as it influences financial success of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria.

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Published
2024-02-10
How to Cite
Ajibola, O. A., Akinadewo, I. S., Igbekoyi, O. E., & Obamoyegun, O. J. (2024). Earnings Management, Audit Committee and Firm Value of Quoted Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria. European Journal of Science, Innovation and Technology, 4(1), 125-146. Retrieved from https://ejsit-journal.com/index.php/ejsit/article/view/369
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Articles