Tax Aggressiveness and Timeliness of Financial Reporting in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56919/jbam.2621.024Keywords:
Corporate Taxation, Deposit Money Banks, Effective Tax Rate, Financial Reporting Timeliness, Tax AggressivenessAbstract
This study examines how tax aggressiveness relates financial reporting timeliness in Nigerian deposit money banks.The theoretical framework for this study includes Agency theory and Signaling theory.Panel data from 14 Nigerian deposit money banks covering 2014 to 2023 are analysed using Logit and panel regression models. Tax aggressiveness is proxied by four measures: ETR, BTD, BETR, and ITX. Firm size, audit firm reputation, and leverage are held as controls. ETR (β = 0.250, p < 0.05) and ITX (β = 0.579, p < 0.01) both return positive and significant effects on timeliness. However, the ETR result indicates that firms with higher effective tax rates are more likely to report on time. BTD (β = 0.336, p > 0.05) and BETR (β = -0.002, p > 0.05) show no significant effect. Firm size has a negative and significant relationship with timeliness. The finding that ETR and ITX predict timely filing, while BTD and BETR do not, has a direct implication for how regulators approach compliance monitoring. This study concludes that tax aggressiveness does not uniformly delay reporting, nor does it consistently accelerate it. The effect depends on the specific dimension of tax behaviour being captured and the institutional context in which firms operate. The study recommends that monitoring frameworks should therefore focus more closely on firms with high tax exposure, where compliance incentives appear to be stronger.
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