Audit Committee Quality and Financial Reporting in Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Abstract

The credibility of financial reporting is crucial as it assures the user of its authenticity. In this study, we examined the effect of audit committee quality on the quality of financial reporting of deposit money banks in Nigeria. A descriptive research design was adopted and secondary data sourced from annual accounts of seven deposit money banks for seven years were used to test our hypotheses. The dependent variable in this study is financial reporting quality measured with accrual model. In contrast, the independent variables are the number of members on the audit committee with accounting and finance knowledge, the size of the audit committee, the number of audit committee meetings held in a year and audit committee independence. Descriptive statistics, normality test, a multicollinearity test and regression analysis were used to examine the data. A notable outcome revealed that except for several audit committee meetings held in a given year the other independent variables were found to be insignificant and are not, therefore, determinant of financial reporting quality in deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study concluded that audit committee quality is not a determinant of financial reporting quality in deposit money banks in Nigeria and the study recommends that ability should be paramount for the appointment of members to the audit committee and advises that the audit committee should always be given adequate consideration by management in decision making.