EFFECT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTES ON AUDIT REPORT DELAY OF LISTED INSURANCE COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the effect of audit committee attributes on audit reporting delay of listed insurance companies in Nigeria from 2016 to 2025. Using an ex post facto research design, secondary data were collected from the annual reports of 16 selected companies among the 21 insurance companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NXG). The study focuses on four key audit committee attributes which includes: audit committee size (audctsze), audit committee independence (audctned), audit committee gender diversity (audctgdv), and audit committee meeting frequency (audctmt). Data were analyzed using multiple regression. The findings revealed that audit committee size (audctsze) has a significant and negative effect on audit report delay and audit committee independence (audctned) has a significant and positive effect on audit report delay of listed Insurance companies in Nigeria. However, audit committee gender diversity (audctgdv), and audit committee meeting frequency has no significant influence on audit reporting lag of listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria. The study concludes that audit committee characteristics (size and independence) play an important role in the audit report delay of quoted insurance companies in Nigeria as they enhance oversight quality. The study recommends among others that regulatory bodies should issue clear guiding principle specifying an optimum range for audit committee size to promote efficiency, rather than prescribing maximum acceptable limits, that regulatory bodies of the Nigerian Corporate Governance codes should modify the compositional requirements of the audit committee, that all members of the audit committee should be non-executive directors with financial expertise, knowledgeable in accounting.