FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF QUOTED INSURANCE COMPANIES IN NIGERIA: DOES AUDIT COMMITTEE INDEPENDENCE AND BOARD SIZE MATTERS

Abstract

The study examines the e ect of corporate governance mechanism on ÿnancial performance of quoted insurance companies in Nigeria. It speciÿcally examines how Audit committee Board size and Firm size a ect performance of insurance companies in Nigeria. The population of the study is 38 insurance companies in which 11 insurance companies were selected using ÿlters. The study covers a period of 12 years 2011 to 2022. Secondary data was used from annual ÿnancial statement of the sampled insurance companies. Four hypotheses were formulated and were tested using regression analysis.ThestudyshowsBoardsizehasapositivesigniÿcante ectonÿnancialperformancewhile composition of audit committee show a signiÿcant negative e ect on ÿnancial performance of the selected insurance companies. The research concludes that a robust and statistically significant positive effect of board size on financial performance within Nigerian insurance firms exist and hence underscores the strategic importance of having a larger board. It is recommended that given the significant positive effect of board size on financial performance, organizations in the Nigerian insurance sector should consider increasing their board size to 15 as recommended by NAICOM.