Effect of Audit Committee Gender Diversity on Financial Reporting Quality of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

 The study examined the effect of gender diversity on the financial reporting quality (FRQ) of listed Nigerian consumer goods companies, spanning 15 years period (2010–2024). The population of the study is the twenty-three (23) listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria, while the sample size is thirteen (13) which were selected using the purposive sampling technique. Data was sourced from the audited financial report of the selected firms. Generalized Least Squares (GLS) regression analysis was adopted to analyses the data. The results showed that gender diversity of audit committees has a statistically negative insignificant effect on the quality of financial reporting of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria, indicating that gender inclusion in audit committees did not substantially improve reporting quality of the firms that were sampled. On the other hand, firm size revealed a negatively but significant effect on the financial reporting quality of the selected listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. This suggests that larger organizations typically provide financial disclosures of lesser quality, due to increased complexity and governance issues. The study found that while the size of a firm plays a big role in determining the quality of financial reporting, having gender diversity in audit committees doesn’t really make a significant difference. It suggested that regulatory bodies should step up their oversight for larger companies and promote real, meaningful participation of women in audit committees, rather than just going through the motions, to truly improve financial reporting practices. 

Keywords: audit committee, gender diversity, financial reporting quality, firm size.