AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERTISE AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY OF LISTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NIGERIA: THE MODERATING ROLE OF GENDER DIVERSITY (2010–2023)
Keywords:
Audit committee financial expertise, audit committee gender diversity, financial reporting quality, corporate governance, manufacturing firms; NigeriaAbstract
Financial reporting quality (FRQ) remains a core concern in corporate governance due to its implications for transparency and investor confidence. This study examines the effect of audit committee financial expertise on the financial reporting quality of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria, with audit committee gender diversity considered as a moderating variable. The study adopts an ex post facto research design and relies on secondary data extracted from the annual reports of thirty-five listed manufacturing firms over the period 2010 to 2023. Financial reporting quality was measured using a content-analysis-based index constructed from qualitative reporting characteristics. Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression was employed to account for the panel structure of the data and the presence of heteroskedasticity. The results show that audit committee financial expertise has a positive and statistically significant effect on financial reporting quality. In contrast, audit committee gender diversity and its interaction with financial expertise exhibit negative but statistically insignificant effects. These findings suggest that, within the sampled firms and given the low level of female representation on audit committees, gender diversity does not exert a measurable moderating influence on the expertise FRQ relationship. The study therefore emphasizes the importance of financial expertise on audit committees, while cautioning against strong inferences regarding the effect of gender diversity in situations where representation remains limited.
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