Effect of Gender Mix on Earnings Management of Listed Foods and Beverages Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

The study is an assessment of the effect of Gender Mix on Earnings Management of listed food and beverage firms in Nigeria for the period 2011-2020. The correlational research design was adopted and the population of the listed firms is 23. The purposive sampling techniques was employed in selecting the 15 firms after eliminating firms that don’t meet the set criteria. Secondary data were collected from the annual reports of the sampled firms. EM was proxied by discretionary accrual while gender mix was proxied by proportion of female director. Panel regression was used to analyse. The finding shows that gender mix has no significant impact on earnings management. The study conclude that board characteristics has an insignificantly negative effect on discretionary accruals and does not substantially reduces the discretionary accruals of listed food and beverage firms in Nigeria. The study recommend that Individuals, partnership business, shareholders and government who employ the services of board of directors in Nigeria should ensure that the board members have the competence and experience and that can be brought to bear positively on the organization. This is because board competence are associated with less earnings management of manufacturing firms in Nigerian. Those who are saddled with the responsibility of appointing board members in Nigeria should consider competence and experience of the individuals, as this will go a long way to reduce the earnings management activities in the company.