Forensic accounting and quality of financial reporting of quoted banks in Nigeria

The inspiration for this research which examined the effect of forensic accounting on quality of financial reporting of quoted banks in Nigeria was tensed by the high rate of low quality of audited financial reports by companies including quoted banks in Nigeria and its affirmation as unqualified reports by external auditors. The objective is to examine the effect of forensic accounting on quality of financial reporting of quoted banks in Nigeria. Cross sectional data were sourced from audited financial reports of quoted banks spanning from 2009-2018. Ordinary least square method were used to determine the extent to which forensic accounting affects quality of financial reporting of quoted banks in Nigeria. After cross examination of the validity of the pooled effect, fixed effect and the random effect, the study accepts the fixed effect model. In both models, the independent variables explain 61.6 percent and 59.2 percent of variations on value relevance and audit time lag. The F-statistics validated that the models are significant while the p values of the coefficient indicated that the effect are statistically insignificant. The beta coefficient further showed that litigation support services had a positive effect on value relevance and negative effect on audit time lag respectively.  The study concludes that there is urgent need to publish audited accounts on timely basis to enhance timely investment decision and recommends that appropriate law enforcement agencies should go against banks that delay the publication of its annual accounts within the time frame stipulated by law. This would engage forensic accountants in litigation support services, instill consciousness on the top managements and strengthen the quality of financial reporting and build stakeholders’ confidence.