CEO ATTRIBUTES AND FINANCIAL REPORTING TIMELINESS: EVIDENCE FROM LISTED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

This study examines the effect of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) attributes on financial reporting timeliness of listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria, with emphasis on CEO share ownership and CEO tenure. The persistent delays in financial reporting among firms in emerging markets raise concerns about managerial effectiveness, corporate governance, and transparency, particularly in Nigeria’s consumer goods sector. Adopting an ex-post facto research design, the study utilized panel data from 15 listed consumer goods firms over a ten-year period, sourced from published annual reports. Financial reporting timeliness was proxied using audit report lag and prompt reporting timeliness, while firm size and leverage were included as control variables. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and panel regression models. The findings reveal that CEO share ownership has a positive and statistically significant effect on prompt reporting timeliness, suggesting that equity-aligned CEOs are more likely to promote faster financial disclosures. However, CEO share ownership showed no significant influence on audit report lag. In contrast, CEO tenure exhibited a marginal positive relationship with audit report lag but had no significant effect on prompt reporting timeliness. Additionally, firm size significantly reduced audit report delays, while leverage negatively influenced reporting timeliness. The study concludes that ownership-based CEO incentives enhance timely financial reporting, whereas tenure alone is not a strong determinant of disclosure speed. It is recommended that firms encourage equity-based CEO compensation alongside strong audit committee independence and implement periodic performance reviews for long-serving CEOs to improve reporting efficiency and governance outcomes.