CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This study examines corporate governance and firm performance of selected listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Employing a longitudinal research design, The population of the study consists of all the quoted manufacturing firms in the Nigeria exchange group as at 31st December, 2022. A sample of twenty (20) quoted firms were selected from the consumer goods sector for the period 2018-2022. The study relied on secondary data meticulously extracted from the financial statements of these sampled firms. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, our research discerns that board composition does not wield a significant influence on the performance of companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange. However, audit committee independence was revealed to have a positive relationship with firm performance , and this relationship is statistically significant. In contrast, our analysis found that stakeholder engagement, often seen as a vital element of corporate governance, has a positive relationship with firm performance but this relationship is not statistically significance. Additionally, our examination revealed that ownership concentration did not exert significant impact on firm performance of listed companies in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends that there should be appropriate board representation and caution should be exercised with respect to unclear relation between Audit committee independent and future operations.