Auditors’ dysfunctional behaviour and audit quality in Nigeria.

Odediran, Taiwo Hassan; Fagbemi, Temitope Olamide; Kasum, Abubakar Sadiq; Daramola, Ibidunni Elizabeth

Abstract

Auditors provide a third-party service by giving their judgement on a company's financial statements, which serve as the foundation for choices made by investors and other stakeholders. As a result of multiple audit failures not only in Nigeria, but also in Western countries, poor audit quality has led to a loss of confidence in the financial accounts attested to by auditors. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of auditors' dysfunctional behaviours in Nigeria. The specific objectives of this study were to (i) investigate the effect off ear of loss of client on audit quality in Nigeria and (ii) investigate the effect of staff audit evaluation on audit quality in Nigeria. There were 3,323 audit firms in Nigeria, which represented the population of the research. The study used a survey research methodology and a random sampling procedure with the Taro Yamane sample size technique, resulting in 357 audit businesses throughout Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. The data was investigated using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). According to the findings of the study, staff audit evaluation has a considerable positive effect on audit quality, where as auditors' fear of losing clients, while positive, has an insignificant direct relationship with audit quality in Nigeria. However, the study concluded that auditors' dysfunctional behaviour has a significant impediment to obtaining optimal audit quality. The study therefore recommended that audit partners and supervisors should always recognise the audit team's efforts, whether or not a misstatement is discovered. Furthermore, audit partners should always encourage their staff to adequately exercise necessary professional skill in their auditwork.

Citation

ODEDIRAN, T.H., FAGBEMI, T.O., KASUM, A.S. and DARAMOLA, I.E. 2024. Auditors' dysfunctional behavior and audit quality in Nigeria. Redeca: revista eletrônica do departamento de ciências contábeis e departamento de atuária e métodos quantitativos [online], 11, article number e68471. Available from: https://doi.org/10.23925/2446-9513.2024v11id68471

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2024
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 10, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 10, 2025
• Journal: Redeca: revista eletrônica do departamento de ciências contábeis e departamento de atuária e métodos quantitativos
• Electronic ISSN: 2446-9513
• Publisher: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Grupo de Pesquisa em Literatura, Religião e Teologia, Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Article Number: e68471
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.23925/2446-9513.2024v11id68471
• Keywords: Dysfunctional behavior of auditors; Evaluation of audit staff; Audit quality
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2709600