Ownership Structure and Earnings Quality of Listed Financial Firms in Nigeria

The study determined the effect of ownership structure on earnings quality of listed financial firms in Nigeria.The study employed secondary data.The study population comprised all the 16 listed financial firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select top 10 banks whose shares are consistently traded on the stock market.Data for ownership structure and earnings quality were sourced from the audited financial statements of the selected firms and the Nigerian Stock Exchange Factbook over a period of 10 years(2009-2018).Collected data were analyzed using pooled ordinary least square,fixed effect and random effect estimation techniques.The result from the study showed that institutional ownership(t=4.3,p˂0.05)had a positive and statistically significant relationship with earnings quality while ownership concentration(t=-2.5,p˂0.05)had a negative and significant relationship with earnings quality.The study recommended that the institutional ownership which shows a positive relationship with earnings quality enables improved earnings of the sampled listed banks.More institutional participation should be allowed in the Nigerian listed banks as it was proved that they have the power to monitor the affairs of managers as this will have a positive impact on earnings.Concentration ownership gives managers incentives to manage earnings to achieve short term opportunistic interest;therefore it should not be encouraged.