AUDIT COMMITTEE CHARACTERISTICS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN CAMEROON

This study examines audit committee characteristics and financial performance of manufacturing companies in Cameroon. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The population consisted of the 133 manufacturing companies in Cameroon. A sample of 20 companies was used and data collected from secondary sources within the period 2013 to 2022. The data were analysed with the aid of a panel regression analysis. The results showed that audit committee size, expertise, and independence all positively affect financial performance proxy by return on assets, net profit margin and Tobins Q. the study recommends that manufacturing companies should make an effort to add an audit committee that is more educationally diverse and inclusive. This opens up the possibility of doing more risk assessments because audit committee members who are also knowledgeable in accounting have established precedents for better risk assessment and asset management for improved operational performance. Manufacturing firms should strictly abide by the corporate governance guidelines promoted regarding the number of audit committee members, as it has been demonstrated that the more members, the more effective resources in terms of independence and expertise to facilitate an effective audit function disposition for efficient business decisions that will favorably affect financial performance. In maintaining the required number of audit members, manufacturing businesses should always include an equal number of shareholders and managements representatives. This will lead to the formation of an unbiased audit committee that is fair and free from outside interference.