Corporate Governance and Audit Delay of Firms in Nigeria

This study is on corporate governance and the influence of audit delay on firms in Nigeria. The study is guided by two specific objectives. These are to examine the influence of board size on audit delay of firms in Nigeria, and secondly, to determine the effect of board independence on audit delay of firms in Nigeria.

From the 19,200 total staff of the six firms, each from the six geopolitical zones that make up the Nigeria, a sample size of 400 was derived by the use of Taro Yamane formula. Structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents and the hypotheses were tested using regression analysis. The results show that board size significantly influence audit delay of some firms in Nigeria and the board independent significantly influence audit delay of some firms in Nigeria. Therefore, it could be concluded that corporate governance significantly influence audit delay of some firms in Nigeria. The following recommendations are therefore suggested. Firstly, adequacy, in terms of relevant experience and number of members required should be given serious consideration when selecting members into the board. Secondly, dual loyalties of members should be minimized. Situation where executive members of management dominate decision making should not be entertained, because the purpose of the audit report is to access the activities of management in the organization for the period under review.