INTERNAL AUDIT PRACTICE AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY: PERSPECTIVE FROM NIGERIAN QUOTED FOODS AND BEVERAGES FIRMS

The corporate failures and other related downfalls which occurred around the globe and Nigeria have raised fears about confidence in financial reporting practices by the listed firm in Nigeria. In recent times, financial crime has become more pervasive, and the probability of corporate fraud occurring in Nigeria has become more severe. These aspects of business failure have put greater responsibility on financial experts particularly auditors. Therefore, this study evaluated the attributes of internal audit practice and its influence on reporting quality of selected firms. Secondary data of nine (9) years range (2010 to 2019) were obtained from the financial reports of (4) four food and beverages firms purposively selected out of the twenty-three (23) listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange as of December 2020. The internal Audit practice is the independent variable in this study and it is measured by three factors (Internal Audit fee, Technical Proficiency of internal auditor, and Firm Size). The dependent variable is the financial reporting quality. Mean ranking analysis was used to evaluate determinants of Internal Audit attributes in the selected firms while regression analysis was employed to measure the influence of internal audit quality on the financial reporting quality of sampled firms at 95% confidence level. The overall results (R2 0.8481; F-values = 21.51= and P-Value = 0.000) revealed that all the identified internal quality attributes (Internal Audit fee, Technical Training Proficiency, and Firm Size) were significantly related to internal audit practice and positively influence the financial reporting quality and performance of selected sampled food and beverages firms in Nigeria.