IMPACT OF AUDIT QUALITY AND BOARD DIVERSITY ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF LISTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

The study examined the impact of audit quality and board diversity on the earnings management of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. Audit quality was proxied by audit firm size, audit independence, and audit tenure while board diversity was proxied by board size, board composition, and women directors. The study employed the use of Panel multiple regression techniques to analyse the data collected from 13 listed deposit money banks in Nigeria covering the periods of 2010- 2020. The results show that audit firm size, audit independence, audit tenure, board size, board composition, and women directors all had an inverse relationship with earnings management, however, all the relationships were found to be insignificant. Based on the findings, audit quality and board diversity has no impact on earnings management. The study, therefore, recommends amongst others that listed deposit money banks should always make use of Big4 audit firms in their auditing activities