This study examines the effect of audit committee tenure on financial reporting quality of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study uses panel data obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange factbooks and the financial statements of 14 listed deposit money banks over a period of 10 years (2007-2016). The study uses cross sectional and time series research design. Financial reporting quality was measured using the modified Jones (1991) model and changes in working capital model, while audit committee tenure was measured as the mean tenure of audit committee members. The data was analyzed using descriptive (mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis). The study reveals that audit committee tenure has a negative and insignificant effect on financial reporting quality under the two models. The implication of these results is that the tenure of audit committee members is not important when considering the financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study therefore concludes that the effect of audit committee tenure on financial reporting quality of deposit money banks in Nigeria is negative and insignificant. Based on this conclusion, the study recommends that further research should be conducted on other audit committee attributes in order to see which of the attributes may have significant effect on financial reporting quality.

This study examined the relationship between audit fees and audit quality of listed companies in the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry. In order to achieve this objective, a total of nine (9) listed companies in the downstream sector of Nigerian Petroleum Industry were selected. Secondary data used for the study was extracted from the annual reports of the selected companies for eight (8) financial years (2007-2014). Audit quality which is the dependent variable was regressed on audit fees alongside leverage and age as control variables using the binary logit regression method. Finding shows that audit fee has a negative significant relationship with audit quality, while leverage also has an inverse relationship but was not significant. Firm age, on its part, had a positive sign and significantly associated with audit quality. It was therefore concluded that high audit fees have the likelihood of compromising auditors' independence, thereby, resulting in lower audit quality. The study recommends that regulators of the auditing practice should adopt measures that would regulate and monitor the audit pricing process in order to strike a balance that would curtail overcharging and or under-charging which evidence shows could impair the independence of the auditor, thereby affect audit quality.

This paper assessed roles budget target setting plays in effective performance measurement in Nigerian hotel industry. The survey research method was adopted for this study. The study population consisted of all the managers, Accountants, Account and Finance, personnel and other hoteliers of hotels located in Kaduna state. The sample size consisted of fifty respondents drawn from ten selected hotels using convenient sampling method whereby only those hotels whose managements were willing to participate in the study were chosen. The primary method of data collection used for this study was the questionnaire administration. A total of fifty (50) sets of questionnaire were distributed to the respondents out of which only forty six (46) were completed and returned. The method of data analysis used was the simple percentages while the research hypotheses were tested using chi-square statistic. The paper found that the budget target setting procedure in the hotel industry in Kaduna state is not well articulated and focused whereas budget target setting is an effective tool for effective performance evaluation of individuals and units in the hospitality industry. It is, therefore, recommended that hotels management should make the necessary efforts to strengthen their budget formulation process viz-a-viz target setting to meet achievable set goals JEL Classifications: H83

This study examines the effect of independence factors on audit expectation gap in listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The population of the study comprises of the investors/shareholders, lenders and other creditors and a sample of 385 respondents was selected using Cohran sample size formula. The period under study is from January, 2012 to December, 2019. The study used a questionnaire drawn on a five point likert scale to collect data. The questionnaire has been pilot tested for reliability and validity, using the Cronbach alpha and Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple-regression analysis. The study concludes that auditor depends on client economically. Competing for audit market, carrying out non-audit market service, receiving gifts from management and prospects for reappointment are strong determinants of audit expectation gap in deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study opines that the independence factors have significant positive impact on audit expectation gap in listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. This finding is in line with that of Salehi et al., Amaechi and Chinedu as well as Kamau et al. but is not consistent with findings of Ogweno and Kamau. The study recommends that regulatory authority and professional accounting associations should ensure that auditors avoid economic dependence on the client, carrying out services which are not audit related, and collecting gifts from management and that the regulatory authority has to emphasize on auditors tenures and appointment of auditor shall be through a centrally organized body and not allow audit firms to be competing among themselves.

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Earnings management research has a long and rich history. However, the effect of managerial ownership and audit committee financial expertise on earnings management is rarely conducted in the developing countries like Nigeria. Therefore, this study examines how managerial ownership and audit committee financial expertise on earnings management of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. This study used the Roychowdhury approach to measure real earnings management. Thirty-four (34) manufacturing companies out of seventy-three (73) population that were listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) from 2007 to 2021 was selected as sample size. Data was gleaned from the annual financial reports of the sampled companies for this study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and quantile regression analysis are the econometric techniques used to test the analysed data and for hypothesis testing. Results from the study showed that managerial ownership significantly affects real-earnings management. When the effect was moderated by the financial expertise of the audit committee, the effect of ownership structure on real earnings management disappears. The result from the study show that managers of manufacturing firms in Nigeria should be encouraged to own more shares in the companies they manage in order to minimize real earnings management. The evidence can theoretically serve as a solid foundation for regulatory action, notably through improving the alignment of managers' and shareholders' interests. The results from this study have important implications for regulators, who will gain from understanding how managerial ownership affects real earnings management and improve the accuracy of financial reporting. The findings will also help policymakers and academics to understand how managerial ownership affects real earnings management in Nigeria.

Significant corporate shareholders can exert undue pressure on managers to enhance earnings in order to increase corporate value, and that as a result of this undue pressure, managers to resort to earnings management practice in the corporations they manage. This study examined the moderating role of audit committee expertise on the relationship between ownership concentration and real-earnings management in Nigeria. The independent variable (ownership concentration) was measured as shareholders who have more than 5% equity stake in a company, and real-earnings management was measured using the Roychowdhury approach. Audit committee financial expertise which is the moderator, was measured in binary form, 1 if at least one member of the committee has accounting experience, and 0 otherwise. This paper used a sample of 34 manufacturing companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) over a period of 15 years from 2007 to 2021. Data was collected from the annual financial reports of the sampled companies. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Quantile regression was employed for data analysis and the findings show OWNCON has a positive and insignificant effect on REM. However, when audit committee financial expertise was used as a moderator, the effect of ownership concentration on the real- earnings management of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria became statistically significant. Based on the findings, the study recommends that manufacturing companies should have more concentrated owners because the higher the concentration the less tendency of REM of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria.