ADAMU Aisha Ambi
Department of Management Studies
Nigeria Defence Academy Kaduna
aaambi@kadunapolytechnic.edu.ng
EBIEGA Godstime Sunday
Department of Management Studies
Nigeria Defence Academy Kaduna
godstimeebiega@gmail.com
ADIGUN Akinwale Elijah
Department of Management Studies
Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna
akinwaleadigun4@gmail.com
ILYASU Halilu
Department of Management Studies
Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna
iliyasuhalilu@gmail.com
SAMBO Halimah Sani
Department of Actuarial Science and Insurance
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
halimahsambo247@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The practice of earnings management has called for increased attention, yet, factors affecting earnings management in Nigeria’s public sector remain ambiguous. Consequently, this paper focused on reviewing existing literature on determinants of earnings management from Nigerian oil and gas enterprises; deposit money banks in Nigeria; Nigerian manufacturing firms; corporate organization; nonfinancial companies; firms listed on Nigeria’s stock exchange; as well as studies from other countries, to identify the determinants of earnings management. Structured Literature Review methodology was used in the selection of eligible articles that meet the study’s objectives. The search was based on the following keywords: “earnings management” or “creative accounting” or “accounting manipulation” or “financial performance adjustments “or “financial reporting quality” or “accruals quality” or “opportunistic financial reporting” or “surplus-deficit-management” and “public sector” or “government. The study relied on 8 articles on determinants of earnings management published from 2012 to 2023. These variables were identified as determinants of earnings management: board attributes, tax aggressiveness, quoted share price and return on assets, institutional ownership, return on shareholders’ fund, return on capital employed, net profit after tax and return on assets, corporate strategy, director’s shareholdings, quoted share price, IFRS and political connections, probability of bankruptcy,
profitability, non-debt tax shield, operating cash flows, stock returns, firm size and growth, firm performance. The study recommends that users of the financial statement should not to be careless when it comes to methods employed to falsify earnings reported in the financial statement. The study also suggests that future research should aim to include more businesses in the sample, as well as financial enterprises.
Keywords: Earnings management, financial statement, public sector, structured literature review