TABLE OF CONTENT

Table of content

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstract

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background of the study

Statement of research problem

Objectives of the study

Statement of research questions

Research hypothesis

Scope of the study

Significance of the study

Limitations of the study

Definition of terms

CHAPTER TWO

Conceptual framework

Concept of audit quality

Concept of audit remuneration

Concept of audit tenure

Auditor’s independence and audit quality

Audit committee activeness and audit quality

Theoretical framework

Audit pricing theory

Agency theory

Empirical framework

Gap in literature

CHAPTER THREE

Introduction

Research design

Population of the study

Sample size and sampling techniques

Data analysis technique

Model specification

CHAPTER FOUR

Data analysis and interpretation

Data analysis

Descriptive statistics

Correlation analysis

Pearson correlation matrix

Regression analysis

Regression result

CHAPTER FIVE

Summary conclusion and recommendations

Summary

Conclusion

Recommendation

            ABSTRACT

In table 4.3 above, the study observed from the result the, R-square value of 0.5183 and R-sq(adj) 0.4816 this value reveals that all the independent variables jointly explain about 25% of the variation in the audit quality of the sampled companies. This means that about 51.83% of the audit quality of the selected companies can be attributable to auditor fee. Hence all the explanatory variables used for the study can cause about 51.83% changes in the audit quality. The F-statistics value of 9.2618 and its probability value of 0.0032 shows that the Ordinary Least Square regression model used are well specified and the model specification is statistically significant at 1% levels.

                                                            ABSTRACT

The study examined the effect of abnormal audit fees on audit quality in audit market in Nigeria. The aim was to determine whether abnormal audit fee (be it positive or negative) drives audit quality in Nigeria audit market. Hence, audit quality was regressed on abnormal audit fee alongside other explanatory variables like audit tenure, board independence, audit committee activeness, firm size and leverage. Using a probit binary regression technique on 350 firm observation data; obtained from companies quoted on the Nigeria stock exchange, it was observed that both positive and negative abnormal audit fees had insignificant positive impacts on audit quality. This shows that an abnormal audit fee does not matter to audit quality. Contrary to expectation, board independence and firm size had negative impacts on audit quality. However, only the impact of board independence was statistically significant. Of the auditor tenure, audit committee activeness and leverage that have positive impacts on audit quality. In conclusion, since the audit quality is invariant to abnormal audit fees, there may be no cause for alarm. However, the regulators of audit markets must keep a closer watch through effective monitoring of the audit fees chargeable by the audit firms to ensure that abnormal audit fees that could become deleterious to the audit quality do not arise.