INTERNAL AUDIT PRACTICE AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY: PERSPECTIVE FROM NIGERIAN QUOTED FOODS AND BEVERAGES FIRMS
Abstract:The corporate failures and other related
downfalls which occurred around the globe and Nigeria have raised fears about
confidence in financial reporting practices by the listed firm in Nigeria. In
recent times, financial crime has become more pervasive, and the probability of
corporate fraud occurring in Nigeria has become more severe. These aspects of
business failure have put greater responsibility on financial experts
particularly auditors. Therefore, this study evaluated the attributes of
internal audit practice and its influence on reporting quality of selected
firms. Secondary data of nine (9) years range (2010 to 2019) were obtained from
the financial reports of (4) four food and beverages firms purposively selected
out of the twenty-three (23) listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange as of
December 2020. The internal Audit practice is the independent variable in this
study and it is measured by three factors (Internal Audit fee, Technical
Proficiency of internal auditor, and Firm Size). The dependent variable is the
financial reporting quality. Mean ranking analysis was used to evaluate
determinants of Internal Audit attributes in the selected firms while
regression analysis was employed to measure the influence of internal audit
quality on the financial reporting quality of sampled firms at 95% confidence
level. The overall results (R2 0.8481; F-values = 21.51= and P-Value = 0.000)
revealed that all the identified internal quality attributes (Internal Audit
fee, Technical Training Proficiency, and Firm Size) were significantly related
to internal audit practice and positively influence the financial reporting
quality and performance of selected sampled food and beverages firms in
Nigeria.