DO AUDIT COMMITTEE AND BOARD ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF LISTED FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract Corporate environmental practices have faced intense stakeholder scrutiny due to severe ecological concerns affecting local communities and global stakeholders. Using correlational design, this study investigates how audit committee and board of directors’ attributes impact on environmental disclosure among the Nigerian listed firms. A dataset of 95 listed Nigerian companies across diverse sectors was analyzed using regression analysis for the period of 2012-2022. Fixed effect regression results indicates that audit committee independence and board of directors’ nationality positively influence the environmental disclosure of the Nigerian listed firms. On the contrary, frequency of audit committee meetings has significant negative effect on environmental disclosure. This study’s outcome offer valuable insight for Nigerian regulatory bodies and policymakers to inform environmental reporting guidelines alongside financial reporting in annual reports. The study recommends among others that regulators such as Security and Exchange Commission should encourage firms in considering appointing expert foreign nationals to their board as evidenced that their presence can significantly impact environmental information disclosure, leveraging their diverse expertise and experience to enhance management’s handling of environmental issues.