Board Meetings and Financial Performance of Insurance Companies in Nigeria (Published)
This study examined the impact of board activism on performance of quoted insurance companies in Nigeria. The study evaluates the effect of board meetings on the financial performance of 15 listed insurance companies existing on the Nigeria stock exchange between the period 2006-2017.Panel data regression and descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the annual report of the sampled companies. The result of the study revealed a negative relationship with no significant impact between the board meeting and performance of insurance firms in Nigeria with emphasis on Return on Equity, Return on Asset and Tobin’s Q. It was suggested that regulatory authority focus their attention more on the skill and experience of directors at meeting of the board for good performance.
Keywords: Board, Insurance, Meetings, Nigeria, Performance
Insurance Business: A Panacea for Agricultural Sector Sustainability in Nigeria (Published)
Insurance sector plays important role in the growth of Nigeria economy as well as agricultural sector. The study investigated the impact of insurance business on the growth of agricultural sector in Nigeria, using time series data for 18 years from 2000 to 2017, the data used were total insurance investment; total non-life insurance premium (Independent) and the agricultural sector output to Gross Domestic Product (Dependent) which was obtained from central bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and also National insurance commission (NAICOM) statistical bulletin. OLS regression was conducted as well as Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test which reveals that all the variables are stationary at the order of one, the test for cointegration shows that all the variables cointegrate when AGDP is the endogenous variable. The granger causality test reveals that there is a bidirectional relationship existing between AGDP and total non-life insurance premiums, while unidirectional relationship exists between AGDP and total life insurance premiums with no causal relationship existing between AGDP and total insurance investments. The regression result shows that all the variables have significant impact on agricultural output to gross domestic product and also there is a positive relationship between all the predictors and agricultural output to GDP. It was therefore concluded that insurance serve as a remedy to the sustainability of agricultural sector in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that insurance sector should provide adequate information particularly on the risk concerning agricultural sectors and also providing a maximum coverage for farmers and their products to reduce the risk which the farmers retained or being expose to in the sector.
Keywords: Agriculture, Gross Domestic Product, Insurance, Investment, Life Insurance, general insurance
Determinants of External Auditors’ Remuneration: Evidence from the Ugandan Insurance Sector (Published)
There is perception in Uganda that the gap between the auditors’ remuneration paid to the Big-4 (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC) and that for the Small and Medium-sized Practices (SMPs) has continued to grow but little is known of what is causing the disparity. There are 100 companies in the insurance sector in Uganda yet there are 230 licenced audit firms at end of 2018 leading to an excess of supply over demand. A sample of 74 insurance players in Uganda was used for this longitudinal study based on selected data extracted from audited financial statements for the years 2014-2017. The study revealed that the client’s annual income and total assets have a statistically significant influence on the auditor’s remuneration. The auditor’s size (SMP or Big-4) also had statistically significant influence on the auditor’s remuneration – the client size influenced the choice of the auditor. The smallest insurance player had total assets of only USD 7,079 while the largest had USD 58.2million. In terms of income, the largest earned USD 34.6million per annum. Big-4 earned a premium of USD 17,235 on their remuneration per client per annum by virtue of their size and reputation. Given these three determinants, the auditor’s remuneration was USD 23,189 per client for Big-4 compared to USD 2,422 per client for the SMPs. Whereas SMPs held 66% of the number of insurance audits in Uganda, their market share of the auditor’s remuneration was 17%. This translates into a Concentration Ratio (CR4) of auditor’s remuneration of 83% held by the Big-4. The estimated size of the auditor’s remuneration in the insurance sector in Uganda is USD 822,000 per annum of which the SMP’s share is approximately USD 150,000 per annum. The implications for accountancy practice, especially SMPs in Uganda, are that the gap can only be reduced through acquisition of medium and larger insurance players who would then be able to afford higher auditor’s remuneration. Future research could include a qualitative dimension of in-depth interviews of selected insurance players to understand their criteria for audit firm choice and auditor’s remuneration budget
Keywords: Auditor’s Remuneration, Big-4, Concentration, Insurance, SMP