Audit Reporting Lag Responsivity of Big Data Analytics: Evidence from Nigeria

Perceived sub-optimal prevalence of big data analytics practice among accounting firms in Nigeria, having allegedly been attributed to lack of empirical validation of its capability in reducing audit report lag, the current study was undertaken to investigate the responsiveness of audit report lag to big data analytics, using listed manufacturing firms in the Nigeria as the study population. A mixed method design was implemented wherein primary data were sourced from the external auditors at firm-level to measure big data analytics, while secondary data were collected from the audited annual reports of the manufacturing firms. Big data analytics was decomposed into voice data analytics, image/video data analytics, and text data analytics. Following analyses, it was found that big data analytics invigorates auditors’ confidence in their application of professional skepticism during the audit engagement, leading to elongation of audit report lag. Consequently, it was concluded that deployment of big data analytics among audit firms in Nigeria enhances application of professional skepticism result, resulting more in audit report lag elongation than timeliness. It was therefore recommended that Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria as a regulator, should institutionalize big data analytics in auditing practice in Nigeria.