Board Independence, Board Diligence and Audit Report Lag in Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of board independence and board diligence in audit report lag in listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. A case study of 10 deposit money banks listed on the Nigeria stock exchange. The major objective of the study is, to determine the impact of board independence on audit report lag in listed deposit money banks in Nigeria and to determine the impact of board diligence on audit report lag in listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The data was gotten for the annual reports of these banks for the period of 2008 to 2017. A panel ordinary least square regression to achieve the set objectives. The major finds are: board independence exerted negative impact on audit reporting lag of Nigerian banks. Some of the recommendation suggested that; corporate organizations in Nigeria should adopt optimal board size that promote early financial disclosure; Security and Exchange Commission should engage in more supervision among corporations in Nigeria who engage in audit lag as a measure of engaging in earnings management; Sequel to the point raised above, it is imperative to increase board rotation among corporations in Nigeria so as to mitigate against earnings management; Corporations in Nigeria should be made to pay heavy penalty for audit report lag.