AUDIT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTE: AN IMPACT ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCLOSURE PRACTICES FOR DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

This Paper examines the influence of audit committee characteristics on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices in listed deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The study is underpinned by the agency and legitimacy theories. Correlational research design was employed and the fourteen DMBs listed on the Nigeria Exchange Group (NGX) as at the end of year 2020 constituted the population. Ten DMBs were purposively selected for a period spanning 2016-2020. Statistical analyses were done on the collected data by employing descriptive statistics, correlation and regression statistical tools. The findings revealed that audit committee attributes do not significantly relate with CSR disclosure practices of the Nigerian DMBs. Therefore, this study recommended encouragement by policy-makers of the institution of audit committee with effective and efficient characteristics capable of influencing both the mandatory and voluntary disclosures in order to deepen the integrity of financial and non-financial reporting of Nigerian DMBs

Impact of Auditor Industry Specialization on the Audit Quality of Listed Non-financial Firms in Nigeria

Audit quality improvement depends on several factors documented in the literature. Auditors are able to attract patronage if clients perceive their services to produce quality outcomes. Auditors therefore garner experience and acumen in the activities of specific clients’ industries in order to attract the largest market share and improve their portfolio of clients in certain industries as a result, they attain the status of ‘specialization’ in the audit of such industries.. In spite of this ‘specialization’, indices of dwindling audit quality continues to surface in the corporate entities occasioned by untimely takeovers and abrupt mergers. Therefore, this study examines the nexus between audit industry specialization and audit quality in the listed non-financial firms in Nigeria Data were drawn from financial reports of 40 listed firms in Nigeria covering periods between 2005 and 2019 and the total observation stood at 517. Data analysis was carried out with the use of longitudinal econometric models. Evidence from the study support the rejection of the null hypothesis (t=-1.72, p<0.10 & t=-1.74, p<0.10) for the two models thereby supporting the proposition that audit quality improved significantly improved as a result of audit industry specialization. It specifically isolates the oil and gas as well as service industries for significant improvement in audit quality as a result of industry specialization of auditors while pointing to the possibility of improving the agricultural and consumer service industries due to their negative but insignificant coefficients. The study recommends that regulatory authorities should disaggregate regulatory functions among industries to be able to better understand the interplay of audit industry specialization and thus make policies that inform better audit quality