IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

Journal of Accounting and Financial Management (JAFM )

E-ISSN 2504-8856
P-ISSN 2695-2211
VOL. 11 NO. 2 2025
DOI: 10.56201/jafm.vol.11.no2.2025.pg29.51

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Board Diversity and Tax Avoidance of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

Ogochukwu N Onyeogubalu, Pius VC Okoye, Nonye S Agubata

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Abstract

The study examined the effect of board diversity on tax avoidance of listed Consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The specific objective was to ascertain the effect of board gender diversity and foreign directors on effective tax rate of listed Consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Ex-post facto research design was used in the study. Twenty-one listed consumer goods firms constituted the study population from which a sample of fifteen (15) firms was chosen. Secondary data were sourced from the annual reports of the sampled firms from 2014-2023, resulting in a ten (10) year data points. The analyses first underwent preliminary tests such as descriptive test, test of multicollinearity, test of normality, heteroskedasticity, linearity and autocorrelation before Robust Least Squares were used in the test of the hypotheses. The study found that board gender diversity has a significant negative effect on tax avoidance among listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria (? = 0.1257; p-value = 0.0397); foreign directorship has a significant negative effect on tax avoidance among listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria (? = 0.0950, p-value = 0.0142). In conclusion, greater diversity on boards could help mitigate aggressive tax avoidance practices and improve corporate governance standards in the consumer goods sector. The study recommends that firms should actively increase gender diversity on their boards as a strategy to reduce tax avoidance practices by ensuring a more balanced representation of women in boardrooms, which may promote ethical governance and discourage aggressive tax strategies.

Board diversity, Board gender diversity, Foreign directorship, Tax avoidance

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