EFFECT OF EARNINGS QUALITY ATTRIBUTES ON PERFORMANCE OF LISTED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Firm performance is central to achieving its overall goal and objective. Performance implies the achievement of set goals economically, efficiently and effectively. Performance measurement is also critical to assess progress made toward the achievement of organization goals. Hence, the study examined the effect of earnings quality on performance of listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria. The study adopts ex-post facto research design and multiple regressions as the technique for data analysis. It was discovered that accrual quality has negative significant effects on Tobins Q and value relevance has positive but insignificant effect on Tobins Q. Furthermore, it was found that earnings persistence has positive significant effect on Tobins Q while predictive value of earnings quality has negative insignificant effect on performance of consumer goods companies in Nigeria. Furthermore, it was found that timeliness has negative insignificant effect on performance while firm size has positive but insignificant effect on performance of consumer goods companies in Nigeria. The study concludes that increases in earnings quality decreases performance of consumer goods companies in Nigeria. The study recommends that Management of consumer goods companies in Nigeria should not engaged in earnings quality because it tends to signal negative performance to the pubic rather than increasing their performance. Also, Management of consumer goods companies in Nigeria should increase their monitoring capacity towards earnings quality activities by increasing the number of experts in accounting and finance on the Board so as to improve earnings quality.