Financial Reporting Quality of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks: The Role of Investigative Support, Expert Witness and Litigation Support
The study examines the roles of investigative support, expert witness and litigation support as forensic accounting techniques on the financial reporting quality of listed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. Data was obtained using a primary source of data collection through administration of well-structured questionnaire to the targeted respondents. Data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. Specifically, the study employed Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. Findings revealed that investigative support (INVTS) has insignificant effect on financial reporting quality, whereas expert witness (EXWS) has positive and significant relationship with financial reporting quality of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. Also, the study establishes a statistically significant relationship between litigation support (LTSS) and financial reporting quality. Nevertheless, further analysis revealed that the effect sizes for the INVTS, EXWS and LTSS are small and also, 69.5% of the variation in financial reporting quality is explained jointly by the constructs of forensic accounting techniques. The study concludes that expert witness and litigation support plays a vital role in ensuring quality financial reports. Therefore, the study recommends that the management of deposit money banks should establish an independent forensic accounting unit that would be saddled with the responsibility providing expert witness services and litigation support services. Keywords: Litigation support, expert witness, Investigative support, financial reporting quality. JEL Classification Code: M41