Audit Quality and Audit Fees: The Case of Listed Companies in the Nigerian Financial Services Sector

The study empirically investigated the relationship between audit quality and audit fees in companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in the financial services sector with a panel data set spanning the years 2010 to 2020. The likelihood of employing the services of a Big4 audit firm is used as the proxy for audit quality. In Nigerian companies, the data show a significant negative association between audit quality and audit size. Leverage and firm size, the two explanatory variables, had an insignificant impact on audit quality. The empirical findings suggest that high audit fees threaten auditors' independence, which has a detrimental impact on audit quality. As a result, the report recommends that policies and guidelines be developed to govern and regulate the audit pricing process.