Auditing Standards Compliance in Public Universities, South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

The study determined the extent to which auditing standards compliance in seven public Universities in South – South of Nigeria. Three objectives were set for the study, namely- investigating the audit planning; audit quality control; and internal control system in compliance with the financial performance in seven public Universities; where three research questions and three hypotheses respectively guided the study. The review of related literature was adequately treated based on theoretical framework, conceptual framework and empirical framework. The survey design was adopted for the study. The population of this study was 557 auditors in seven public Universities, South-South, Nigeria. The sample size was 233 auditors in the seven public Universities in South-South region of Nigeria. The sample size was determined statistically using “Taro Yamane” formula. The stratified random sampling technique was adopted. A researcher-developed instrument titled: “Compliance of Auditing Standards and Financial Performance Questionnaire” (CASFPQ) was used for data collection for the study. The research instrument was subjected to face validation by three research experts. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha reliability method.  The researcher and two well-briefed research assistants visited all the seven respective public Universities with the letter of introduction attached to the instrument. Simple Linear Regression statistics was used to test the three null hypotheses, set at 0.05 probability level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that auditing standards compliance by auditors determines to a strong extent effective financial performance in public universities in South-South, Nigeria. The study concluded that Universities’ managers should have dedicated, well trained internal audit units responsible for regular financial oversight and ensure compliance with auditing standards. The study recommended among others that public Universities’ management should regularly engage reputable external audit firms to independently assess financial performance and adherence to auditing standards.