Corporate Governance Practices and Financial Reporting Quality of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance practices and financial reporting quality in Nigerian deposit money banks, using the 2025 field-survey dataset contained in the underlying project. The analysis focuses on four governance practices: separation of the roles of board chairperson and chief executive officer, board skills and independence, ethical-conduct and conflict-of-interest standards, and the establishment of specialized board committees. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The source study identified a population of 995 employees across sixteen bank operations in Akwa Ibom State and calculated a sample of 285 respondents using Yamane's finite-population formula at a 5 per cent margin of error. Data were collected through a structured five-point Likert questionnaire and analysed with descriptive statistics, correlation and regression in SPSS. The reported hypothesis tests indicate positive and statistically significant associations between each governance practice and perceived financial reporting quality. Standardized coefficients were 0.393 for chairperson-CEO role separation, 0.421 for board skills and independence, 0.266 for ethical and conflict-of-interest standards, and 0.389 for board committees, with all reported p-values below 0.001. The corresponding simple-model adjusted R-squared values ranged from 0.067 to 0.174. These results support the view that formal governance arrangements contribute to comparability, reliability, timeliness and verifiability of financial reports. However, the findings are perceptual and cross-sectional, and the source output contains legacy variable labels that should be reconciled with the original SPSS variable dictionary before publication. The study recommends stronger evidence of board independence, enforceable ethics systems, technically competent audit committees and clearer documentation of governance compliance.