Do corporate governance mechanisms improve earnings?

This paper provides new insights into the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and firm’s earnings by examining whether board size, independence, gender, CEO duality and audit committee size alter firm earnings. This study employs a quantitative method with a sample of 112 listed firms in Nigeria from 2012-2022. Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were employed as statistical techniques for analysing the data. Based on our results, the study reveals that board independence and CEO duality have significant positive effects on earnings. Board gender and audit committee size have significant negative impacts on earnings. Board size has insignificant negative impact on earnings. This paper concludes that board independence, CEO duality, board gender, and audit committee size are determinants of corporate earnings in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper recommends that the boards of listed firms should be composed of more independent directors to enhance earnings as we failed to find any significant board size's effect on earnings in firms. Regulators, shareholders and lenders would benefit from the results of the paper as it offers policy and performance improvement opportunities