THE EFFECT OF FORENSIC ACCOUNTING ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

This study examines the impact of forensic accounting measured by external auditor compliance on the corporate performance of Deposit Money Banks listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group.It adopts an ex-post facto research design, utilising secondary data from the annual reports of all twelve NGX-listed banks over the period 2015-2024, with census sampling to ensure full population coverage.Panel data regression models were estimated using ordinary least squares, with fixed-or random-effects selection guided by the Hausman test.Diagnostic checks for multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, and model suitability were conducted using VIF, Breusch-Pagan, and Hausman/Lagrange Multiplier tests in EViews 9. Empirical findings reveal that external auditor compliance has a marginally significant positive impact on return on equity ( = 0.0197, p = 0.064), an insignificant effect on return on assets ( = 0.0101, p = 0.169), and a strong positive influence on earnings per share ( = 66.24, p = 0.001).These results suggest that while forensic accounting enhances earnings quality and investor confidence, its direct role in improving asset-utilisation efficiency is limited.The study underscores the need to embed audit compliance within broader corporate governance reforms to optimise overall financial performance.