ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF AUDIT QUALITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world economy, investors generally had suffered substantial financial losses on returns and investment. The underlying factor from this originated from the various financial scandals associated with audit failures globally. This situation now calls for additional sources of information that world enhance the quality of audit and prevent or at most minimise audit failure. This study therefore investigated the key factors that influences audit quality within the auditor’s working environment. The study adopted survey research design. Purposive sampling techniques was adopted in selecting 110 auditors. An adopted structured questionnaire was used to collect data validated using Cronbach alpha with coefficient of construct 0.917 for 34 items. Analysis of the data revealed that top management support and availability of budget are the most important predictors of audit quality (Adj. R²=0.429, F (7,101) =10.850, p= 0.000). The study recommended that top management in both private and public sector should provide the requisite support to the auditors in other to boost their independence and confidence towards enhancing audit quality.