Corporate Board of Directors’ Attributes and Audit Fees

Abstract

This study examines the effect of corporate board of directors’ attributes on audit fees for Nigerian listed Deposit Money Banks (DBMS). The study adopts an ex post facto research design and uses data on 10 deposit money banks sampled via purposive sampling technique using data spanning from 2012 to 2018. Results based on Generalized Method of Moment show that corporate board of directors’ proxies do not significantly influence audit fees of Nigerian deposit money banks. However, firm size and profitability are found to affect external audit fee significantly. The study therefore concludes that corporate boards of directors’ attributes do not individually significantly affect audit fees in Nigerian listed Deposit Money Banks. Arising from the findings, it is recommended that corporate governance practices should be strengthened so as to aid external audit.

Keywords

• board size
• board independence
• board diligence
• audit fee and gmm
• g38
• m42