Influence of Audit Firm Attributes on Earnings Management and Audit Quality of Listed Nigeria Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

The influence of audit attributes on earnings management and audit quality was examined in this study. A causal research design was employed in this study. The study population comprises all the quoted manufacturing firms in Nigeria, of which 30 were purposively selected as a sample size from the manufacturing sector covering a period of 12 years ranging from 2010–2021. The data utilized for this study were obtained from the annual reports of the selected firms. Descriptive statistics and panel regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Audit attributes were measured with audit opinion, audit switching and audit tenure, whereas the dependent variables were proxy by discretionary accruals and audit fees.  The outcome of the analysis discovered that audit opinion, audit switching and audit tenure all have negative and significant relationships with discretionary accrual evidenced by t-statistics (−2.36, −2.06, −3.24) and p-values of (0.018, 0.004, 0.002) correspondingly. Audit opinion also has a positive significant connection with audit fees. Likewise, audit switching and audit tenure have negative and significant relationships with audit fees, and they are all evidenced by t-statistics of (2.01, −2.70, −2.80) and p-values of (0.004, 0.007, 0.005), respectively. The study concludes that audit attributes are important in determining the extent of earnings management and audit report quality. The study recommends that companies should ensure that the auditor is not biased in his opinion because this will affect the quality of the audit report. Audit tenure and audit switching should also be done as when due.