AUDIT COMMITTEE EFFECTIVENESS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT FRAUD OF LISTED CONSUMER GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA.

Abstract

The study empirically investigated the audit committee effectiveness and financial statement fraud. The population of twenty one consumer goods companies registered on Nigeria stock exchange was limited to ten entities employing the purposive random technique for a period of 2011-2020. The study utilize the time series data gathered from the published annual reports. The data obtained from the financial report of the entities were analyzed using the multiple regression with the aid of e-view. From the analytical output of the study it revealed that the audit committee size, audit committee meeting, audit committee independence has a positive and statistical significant relationship with financial statement fraud, while audit committee financial expert has a positive and statistical non-significant relationship with financial statement fraud. The study recommended the regulatory authorities such as (SEC) and the (NSE) should ensure strict compliance with the governance code best practices in other to protect the interest of stakeholders; however, an audit committee that consists of members with financial knowledge reduces the mesmerizing of the financial statement.