EFFECT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTES ON CORPORATE FRAUD OF LISTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of audit committee attributes on corporate fraud of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study proxies audit committee attributes with frequency of audit committee meetings, audit committee gender diversity and audit committee independence. While corporate fraud is measured with Benish M-Score model. Ex post facto research design was adopted. The population of the study is thirty-eight (38) listed manufacturing companies on the Nigerian Exchange Group as at 2024. The study employed filtering sampling technique to arrive at the sample size of thirty-six (36) listed manufacturing companies. Secondary data were collected from the Annual financial reports and accounts of the companies for the period of eleven (11) years ranging from 2013–2023. The panel regression model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that frequency of audit committee meetings, audit committee gender diversity and audit committee independence have significant negative effect on corporate fraud of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The study concludes that sound audit committee attributes mitigate against corporate fraud among listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The study recommends that manufacturing firms should assign a significant percentage of women directors to the audit committee. It is also recommended that manufacturing companies in Nigeria should continue to increase audit committee independence as a means of reducing the level of corporate fraud among listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria.