Earnings Management and Corporate Governance in Africa: A PRISMA-Based Systematic Review

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-892-9_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Africa; Corporate Governance; Earnings Management; PRISMA; Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Although corporate governance has been widely studied, its role in shaping earnings management in the African context remains insufficiently explored. This paper addresses this gap by systematically reviewing the literature using the PRISMA methodology to analyze how governance mechanisms influence financial reporting practices across the continent. The findings reveal strong regional disparities. In North Africa, the interaction between ownership structures, CEO duality, and institutional reforms significantly affects earnings management. Family ownership and CEO-Chairman duality tend to increase manipulations, while institutional ownership and post-reform audit structures reduce them. West African evidence highlights the importance of board financial expertise and risk management committees, though political connections and concentrated ownership frequently undermine these safeguards. Research from East Africa underscores the potential of gender diversity and institutional ownership to curb manipulations, especially when combined, yet also notes that their effects can be paradoxical when associated with board independence. South Africa stands out for its robust regulatory environment and audit quality, though managerial behavior and ethical leadership ultimately shape governance effectiveness. In Central Africa and other regions, auditor specialization, board stability, and gender-balanced committees emerge as crucial tools for limiting accounting manipulation, particularly in high-risk sectors. This review highlights the importance of tailoring governance reforms to local institutional contexts and calls for future research to focus on SMEs, sensitive industries, and the impact of emerging technologies on financial transparency in Africa.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Aymane Chemmaa
AU  - Mohammed Ibrahimi
AU  - Mohammed Amine
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/17
TI  - Earnings Management and Corporate Governance in Africa: A PRISMA-Based Systematic Review
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research in Management and Economics (ICMRME 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 212
EP  - 224
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-892-9_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-892-9_13
ID  - Chemmaa2025
ER  -