Independence of Auditors and Financial Report Reliability of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Reliable financial reports are vital for maintaining the confidence of the relevant stakeholders. Challenges such as aggressive earnings management, regulatory pressures, and systemic corruption can compromise the reliability of financial reports, raising questions about the effectiveness of existing audit mechanisms and the independence of auditors. Hence, this study examines the influence of the independence of auditors and financial report reliability of the listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The ex-post facto research design was used, and secondary data was collected from the audited financial reports of the banks. The data was covered over a time span which ranged from 2014 to 2023. The multiple regression model was used. The result shows that audit fees and audit firm size jointly do not have any significant effect on the level of faithful representation of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. Also, both the audit fees and audit firm size have an inverse influence on the level of reliability of financial reports of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. It was concluded from the study that auditors’ independence does not have any significant influence on the reliability of the financial report of the listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. It was recommended that banks should focus on broader corporate governance mechanisms beyond just auditors’ independence.