Impact of Corporate Governance on Financial Performance: A Study of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of corporate governance on financial performance in deposit money banks in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: assess the impact of board size, board composition and number of board meeting on profit for the year in deposit money banks in Nigeria. The research design was quantitative research design. The population for this study consists of all the twenty (20) deposit money banks in Nigeria as at February, 2016. The timeframe considered for this study is 2015 to 2022, which covers a period of eight (8) years. The simple random sampling by slip of paper without replacement was used to select four deposit money banks in Nigeria namely Access Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, UBA Plc, and Zenith bank. The secondary data were sourced from annual report of quoted banks in Nigeria. The data analytical techniques descriptive statistics, correlation matrix and Generalized Panel Ordinary Least Squares (GLS). The empirical results show that board size has positive and significant impact on financial performance in deposit money banks in Nigeria (t-statistic; 2.9267; P-value; 0.0043 < Sig-value; 0.05); board composition (BC) has positive and significant relationship with profit for the year (PY) in deposit money banks in Nigeria (t-statistic; 2.9267; P-value; 0.0043 < Sig-value; 0.05) and board number of meeting (BM) has positive and insignificant impact on profit for the year (PY) in deposit money banks in Nigeria (t-statistic; 0.8079; P-value; 0.4212 > Sig-value; 0.05). The study recommended that Management of deposit of money banks should ensure that good corporate governance practice should not be regarded as a threat to entrepreneurial drive and spirit but a gauge to promoting integrity and transparency in financial reports. Keywords: Board Size, Board Composition; Number of Board Meeting