THE EFFECTS OF FIRM ATTRIBUTES ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF QUOTED CEMENT COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study evaluated certain firm attributes (proxied by firm size and audit quality)on earning management of listed cement firms in Nigeria. Secondary data was extractedfrom annual financial statement. A quantitative research design was adopted in the study. The population of the study comprises of all the cement firms listed on Nigerian stock exchange as at 31st December, 2021. As December 31st, 2021, there are 3 listed cement firms in Nigeria:  Dangote Cement Plc, BUA cement Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc. The idea behind sampling is to ascertain an adequate size that will represent the total population thereby saving costs and time wastage. The outcome of the study justified firm size (SIZE) has a positive and insignificant relationship with earnings management of listed cement firms (? = 0.0093, t= 1.44, p=0.168). In addition, the study established that audit quality (AQ) negatively and significantly effects on earnings management of listed cement firms in Nigeria (? =-0.0049, t= -2.40, p=0.027). The study recommended that the listed cement firms in Nigeria should consistently engage the services of big4 audit firms have a very huge incentive to maintain a high audit quality which assist in checkmating the operations of the managers and limit the instance of earnings management