Auditors’ Independence and Corporate Fraud

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of auditors’ independence on corporate fraud of listed financial firms in Nigeria. The study employed ex post-facto research design with a sample of 44 listed financial firms quoted on the of Nigeria Exchange Group for a period of 2016-2021. The data were analyzed using the binary logistic regression. 

The findings from the analysis revealed the significance of the auditors’ independence and corporate fraud in listed financial listed firms. Specifically, the study found that there is no significant relationship between auditors’ independence and corporate fraud. Although the relationship was negative; audit firm tenure has a positive and significant effect on corporate fraud; The relationship was significant at 5%; audit firm size has negative impact on corporate fraud. The relationship was significant at 5%; Non-audit fee has no effect on the corporate fraud in financial firms in Nigeria. The relationship was not significant at 5%.