SANI Saminu
Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management Sciences
Federal University Wukari, Taraba State
sanisaminu4u@gmail.com
RIPIYE Waetsi Bitrus
Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management Sciences
Federal University Wukari, Taraba State
waetsibitrus@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The desire for shareholders to maximize wealth and that of government to maximize tax revenue are conflicting and aggressive tax system is the arrowhead of that conflict. In spite of corporate growth, the amount of tax manufacturing firms pay has been on the decline, and this has been a source of worry to government. Hence, this study was undertaken to examine the effects of board attributes (board size, board independence and board gender diversity) on tax avoidance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria, from 2018 to 2022. The study adopted correlational research design. The result showed that board size and board independence has a positive significant effect on tax avoidance, while board gender diversity had negative insignificant effect on tax avoidance. The study concludes that a large board size and increase in board independence increases tax avoidance practices of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria, and recommends that listed manufacturing firms should priorities large board size and large number of independent directors if they want to continue with aggressive tax system.
Keywords: Board attributes, board gender diversity, board independence, board size, tax avoidance