AUDIT STANDARDS AND QUALITY PERFORMANCE OF AUDITORS IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the impact of audit standards on the quality performance of auditors in Nigeria. The objectives of this study is to determine the relationship between audit standards, going concern disclosure, key audit matters disclosure, audit engagement terms and quality performance of auditors in Nigeria. Four hypotheses were developed using the structures of the research questions in order to achieve the objectives of the research.

The study adopted the use of survey research design to issue out questionnaires. The fifteen (15) banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group constituted the population of this study while the five (5) tier 1 banks namely; First Bank Plc, UBA Plc, GT Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc constituted the sample size of this study. The data obtained were analyzed using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression technique.

The findings show that audit standards play significant role in the performance of audit work in Nigeria. It also shows that the going concern disclosure significantly affects the quality performance of auditors. It also indicates that the key audit matters have a significant effect in improving the quality performance of auditors. Disclosure of audit engagement terms has a positive relationship with auditors’ performance therefore implying that it has a significant influence on the quality performance of auditors. The study therefore recommends that the importance of compliance to audit standards and its impact on audit performance should be made clear to the auditors in order to achieve quality audit work.