Board Characteristics and Trade Receivable Management of Nigerian Listed Consumer Goods Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

The study explored the effect of board characteristics, namely board size, board independence, board gender diversity and board shareholdings, on trade receivables management of Nigerian listed consumer goods manufacturing firms in the period 2012 to 2020. It collected data from the annual reports of a sample of 13 Nigerian listed consumer goods manufacturing firms and utilized accounts collection period as the proxy of trade receivables management. Drawing from agency theory, it formulated four null hypotheses and tested them by estimating Ordinary Least Square Regression Model. Findings revealed that both board size, and board shareholdings have beneficial effect on trade receivables management, while board independence, and board gender diversity have no significant effect on trade receivables management. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Nigerian listed consumer goods manufacturing firms should increase board size and encourage more board shareholdings. It was also recommended that firms should not just appoint non-executive directors and female directors to give impression of board independence and board gender sensitivity, but should seek sizable boards composed of persons with substantial interest in the shares of the entity,

Keywords

• Board characteristics
• consumer goods manufacturing firms
• trade receivables management

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