DYNAMICS OF AUDIT COMMITTEE AND TIMELINESS OF REPORTING OF NIGERIA LISTED FAMILY-OWNED FIRMS

Abstract

This study critically assessed the effect of audit committee dynamics on the promptness of Nigerian-listed family firms’ reported accounts, bridging an important gap in the governance literature of emerging economies. Stress is laid on the independence, composition size, frequency of meeting, and gender representation of the audit committee to scrutinize their respective effects on the timeliness of financial reports as a measure of transparency and accountability. Utilizing a 2012-2022 dataset of 17 family-controlled listed companies in Nigeria drawn from the Machame Ratio database, the study employs descriptive statistics and panel data models to explore these relationships. Findings made revealed that the audit committee independence {-0.535(0.011)} showed negative and statistically significant effect on timeliness, while audit committee gender diversity {1.206(0.014)} presents a positive and significant effect on the timeliness of financial reporting among the firms. However, audit committee size {-6.342(0.610)} and meetings {1.833(0.707)} are both not significantly related to timeliness with a negative and positive effect, respectively. These findings are adduced to provide insights into existing debates on whether audit committees make a difference to corporate governance, particularly in the unique case of family-controlled businesses in emerging economies.  By highlighting the role of audit committee characteristics in reporting timeliness, the present study offers useful insights to policymakers, regulators, and practitioners who aim at improving corporate governance standards in Nigeria and other similar jurisdictions.