Audit Committee Characteristics and Performance of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria
This study investigated audit committee characteristics and performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study inquired whether return on equity (ROE) is influenced by audit committee size, audit committee independence and audit committee meeting. The annual reports for the periods 2012-2021 were utilised as the main sources of secondary data. The study adopted longitudinal research design with the use of multivariate regression analysis to analyse the data collected from annual reports and corporate website of the ten (10) sampled listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between audit committee size and audit committee meeting and return on equity (ROE). In addition, audit committee independence was found to have a nonsignificant negative relationship with return on equity (ROE). The study concluded that audit committee size and audit committee meeting were significantly related to return on equity. The study thus recommended that the regulators should encourage the size and the inclusion of the financial experts in the audit committees of the deposit money banks in Nigeria. Keywords: Audit committee characteristics, audit committee independence, audit committee size, audit committee meeting, return on equity