ABSTRACTEarning is believed to be the most significant item in the financial report because it serves as an indicator of the firm‟s financial performance and guides investors in evaluating the performance of the firm. However, the quality of financial reporting has remained an issue of major concern among the various users of financial information. As a result, measures are raised to curb this situation among which is ownership structure (distribution of company ownership among its shareholders). The study seeks to examine the effect of ownership structure on earnings quality of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The study formulates four hypotheses and applied Panel Regression Technique to analyse the relationship between dependent variable earnings quality and the independent variable (ownership structure). The dependent variable was measured by the modified Jones model while the independent variable was proxied by, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, ownership concentration and foreign ownership of the sampled Consumer goods firms. Secondary data was extracted from the annual reports and accounts of nineteen sampled firms listed under the consumer goods sector of the Nigerian Stock exchange for the period 2009-2016. The study found that: Managerial ownership positively influences earnings quality, Ownership concentration negatively influences earnings quality but Institutional Ownership and Foreign Ownership have positive but insignificant influence on earnings quality. Based on the findings, the study concluded that ownership structure has a great effect on the earnings quality of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The study recommends that Managers should be encouraged to have interest through share ownership in Nigerian Consumer goods firms but concentration of shares in the hands of few shareholders should be discouraged. The limitations of the study are that the results are only applicable to listed consumer goods firms, hence cannot be applied to non-listed firms, other manufacturing firms and other sectors of the economy.
