EFFECT OF AUDIT QUALITY ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF LISTED OIL MARKETING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

This paper examines the effect of audit quality attributes on earnings management of listed oil marketing companies in Nigeria. Secondary data were extracted from nine companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2009 to 2014 and analyzed using panel multiple regression technique. The result of Hausman specification test suggests that the fixed effect regression model is most appropriate for the dataset. The result of the fixed effect regression model showed that audit firm size, auditor industry specialization, client importance and audit committee financial expertise are positively associated with earnings management of the firms at 1%, 5%, 1% and 5% level of significance respectively. In contrast, auditor tenure and the interaction between audit committee financial expertise and auditor industry specialization were negatively and significantly associated with earnings management of the firms at 5% level of significance respectively. The paper  therefore concludes that audit quality has significant effect on earnings management of listed oil marketing companies in Nigeria. In line with the findings, the paper recommends among others that public companies who hire the services of audit firms in Nigeria should judge audit firms on the basis of performance in prior assignments and not just the size of the audit firm in view of the fact that audit firm size is not associated with less earnings management of Nigerian firms. Also, regulatory authorities such as SEC should come out with a policy that will encourage audit firms in Nigeria to specialize along industry lines of companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to enable effective audit service. Regulatory bodies such as SEC and Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) should also come out with a policy that makes it mandatory for Nigerian companies to publish both audit and non audit fees paid to their auditors. The disclosure of both fees will enable users of audited financial statements in Nigeria to determine the level of auditor client importance and consequently, the reliance to place on the auditor’s report.