Audit Committee and Audit Report Lag: Moderating Role of Ownership Concentration of Listed Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

This study examines the moderating role of ownership concentration on the effect of audit characteristics on audit report lag of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The ex-post facto research design was adopted, secondary data was extracted from annual reports and accounts of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The population of the study is twenty-one (21) and the sample size consist of fifteen (15) for ten years (2012-2021). Six (6) companies were flitter out from the study due the technical suspension by NXG during the period of study. Census sample techniques were adopted. PCSEs regression model was employed as technique of data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the Audit Committee Size (ACS) and Audit Committee Meeting have a positive and significant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). Also, the Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE) revealed a positive and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL), while the Audit Committee Independence is established to have a negative and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). However, with consideration of moderating role ownership concentration, the Audit Committee Size (ACS) and Audit Committee Meeting (ACM) is found to have significant negative effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL), while the Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Audit Committee Independence are found to have a positive and insignificant effect on Audit Report Lag (ARL). The study concludes that ownership concentration moderates the effect of audit committee on Audit Report Lag. The study recommended that the management of the study firms should continue to sustain the frequency of meetings and size or numbers of the committee in their respective audit committee since the two committee have been empirically proven to have significantly reduced the timeframe of reporting their financial reports.