Board Structure and Aggressive Tax Avoidance Empirical Evidence From Nigeria Insurance Firms.

The study examined the effect of board structure and aggressive tax avoidance in Nigeria Insurance Industry. The specific objectives of the study were to: examine the effect of Corporate Board Size, Corporate Board Independence, Corporate Board Diversity on tax management in Nigeria Insurance Industry. The study used an ex post facto research design. Data were collected through secondary sources from the selected from Insurance companies in Nigeria which was analyzed using multiple panel regression analysis with the aid of E-view 10. The study revealed that Corporate Board Size had a significant effect on tax management in Nigeria Insurance Industry. (Where the t-value = -2.717285 and P-value = 0.0092), that Corporate Board Independence did not significantly effect on tax management in Nigeria Insurance Industry. (Where the t-value =0.184291 and P-value = 0.8546), and that Corporate Board Diversity had no significant effect on tax management in Nigeria Insurance Industry. (Where t-value of 1.039607 and P-value of 0.3040). The study concluded that corporate governance has not influenced tax on tax management in Nigeria Insurance Industry. This is because corporate tax aggressiveness is considered as one of the most severe compliance issues threatening Nigeria and most nations of the world. The study recommended that insurance industry should maintain a moderate board size, due to the need to facilitate quality and timely decision-making, board efficacy, and compliance with tax law provisions and authority; Also management should examine their tax aggressive activities of the government to ensure that it does not affect the performance of the firm negatively so as to give value to diversity in the board composition within the firm as diversity in the board decreases tax aggressiveness.