AUDITORS INDEPENDENCE AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA.

The need to strengthen the confidence of financial information users in the audited financial statement arises due to questions linked to auditors’ independence, which in part is majorly caused by a number of financial crises within and outside Nigeria. This paper assessed the effect of auditor’s independence on financial reporting quality of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria covering the period 2019-2023. The research design adopted in this study was the descriptive survey. Primary data was used for this study. The data was sourced from a five point likert’s scale questionnaire that was administered to the respondents. The data analysis techniques adopted were the descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. The findings revealed that audit tenure and audit fee has a positive and statistically significant effect on financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria at 5% level of significance, while NAS has a positive effect on financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria at 10% level of significance The study recommends that, statutory auditors should take all possible measures which would make the independent in other to carry out their audit assignment successfully. Also, audit firms should undergo a frequent review on their employees’ financial interest in their audit firms. This would assist in reducing self-interest threat when carrying out an audit assignment on a client firm. Keyword: Audit tenure, Audit Fee, Non-Audit Service, Auditor Independence, Financial Reporting. Word count: 233 words