Ownership Structure and Audit Quality of Listed Firms in Nigeria: Moderating Role of Audit Committee Gender
This study set out to examine shareholding structures and audit quality with the moderating role of audit committee gender. The shareholding structure (independent variable) is proxied by block-holder ownership, foreign ownership, managerial ownership and percentage of women in the board, while, the dependent variable (audit quality) was measured by the big 4). The study population was the 148 listed firms in Nigeria who were in operation from January 2012 to December 2021 and a sample size of 74 firms were selected and their data analyzed. Multi regression analysis was employed with the aid of STATA in testing hypotheses of the study. Findings of the study provide empirical evidence that block-holder ownership has a significant negative effect on audit quality, while foreign ownership and managerial ownership have significant positive effects on audit quality , it was also revealed that the increased women in the board improved the quality of the audit so it recommends a reduced block-holder ownership, increased foreign, managerial ownerships increase of number of women in the board for improved audit qualities among Nigerian listed expertise, while, managerial ownership will align the interest of management with those of the shareholders. Keywords: Audit quality, block-holder ownership, foreign ownership, managerial ownership and female board gender JEL: M41, M47, M48