Effect of Audit Firm Tenure on Audit Quality in Nigeria Deposit Money Banks

Abstract: This paper examined the effect of audit firm tenure on audit quality in quoted deposit money banks in Nigeria for the period 2004-2023 using an ex-post facto research design to gather secondary source of data for the study. In order to empirically investigate the study, 14 quoted DMBs were selected for the study and the relevant information/data about the banks were collected from the published annual report of the banks. The audit firm tenure was proxied using audited period and other exogenous variables that influenced audit quality were also included in the panel regression model while audit quality was measured using the big-4 and earning measurement. The descriptive and inferential statistics of dynamic panel analysis was employed to investigate the objective of the study. The result of the panel analysis when earning management and big-4 were used as proxy for audit quality revealed that audit firm tenure had a significant positive effect on the audit quality of the quoted deposit money banks. The study concluded that audit firm tenure enhanced audit quality in the selected DMBs in Nigeria.