Kwakipi Akodos Egga
Department of Accounting, Isa Mustapha Agwai 1 Polytechnic, Lafia
2014kwakipi.org@gmail.com
Ishaq Alhaji Samaila
Department of Accounting, Bayero University, Kano
ishaqismail005@yahoo.com
The study examines the moderating effect of audit committee on the relationships between audit
quality and the market value of listed deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The study covered
ten years from 2009 to 2018 and thirteen (13) out of Sixteen (16) listed DMBs are used as sample
for the study. Descriptive research design is used and data are collected from the annual reports
and accounts of the sampled banks and analysis made using multiple regression analysis through
Stata software. The results of moderated multiple regression model show that audit fees, auditors’
opinions and joint audits have negative and significant impact on the market value of the listed
DMBs in Nigeria while audit firm size and auditors’ switch have negative and insignificant impact
on the market value of listed DMBs in Nigeria. The results of moderated audit fee, auditors’
opinions and joint audits are inconsistent with the priori expectations that predict positive
relationship of audit fee, auditors’ opinions and joint audits to the value of firms while the results
of moderated audit firm size is contrary to the priori expectation that branded (big4) audit firms
increase the value of their client organizations. The study therefore, recommends that audit
committee activities must be brought under scrutiny by both the regulatory agencies and
shareholders to avoid complacency and ensure that the right auditors are sought to give service
to stakeholders of the sector irrespective of size provided they are licensed to operate by their
professional bodies. Again, management should consider members of the audit committee based
on the criteria of CAMA 2020 on financial expertise and non-executive directors on the audit
committee.
Key Words: Moderating, Audit Committee, Audit Quality and Value