AUDIT COMMITTEE CHARACTERISTICS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

This study examined the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial Performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship of audit committee size, independence, expertise, meeting frequency, and diversity on financial performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria.The study adopted an ex-post facto research design and employed panel data drawn from the annual reports of ten years(10) listed deposit money banks in Nigeria over a ten-year period. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and panel regression techniques were used for data analysis, with the fixed effect model selected based on the Hausman specification test. The findings revealed that audit committee size, independence, expertise, and diversity have a positive and statistically significant effect on financial performance while audit committee meeting frequency showed a positive but marginally significant effect. The results suggest that well-structured and effective audit committees enhance monitoring functions and improve the credibility and reliability of financial performance .The study concludes that strengthening audit committee characteristics is critical to improving financial performance quality in Nigerian listed deposit money banks. Consequently, the study recommends that regulatory authorities and corporate boards should ensure adequate audit committee composition in line with best corporate governance practices