Non- Auditing Services and Audit Quality in Nigeria-Perspectives and Issues

This paper examines the perception of stakeholders on the effect of the provision of non -auditing services by an auditor to his audit client on audit quality. A survey research design was deemed appropriate for the study. 400 respondents were sampled, however only 350 usable responses were available for the study. A five point Likert scale questionnaire was used to elicit information from the stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and the t-test statistic were employed for the analysis of the responses and testing the hypothesis for statistical significance. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the most common reasons for the responses of the financial statement users as to whether provision of non-auditing services to audit clients by auditors impair audit quality. The findings show that provision of non-auditing services to audit clients like doing book-keeping work for a client or internal audit services, is viewed by respondents as impairing audit quality. The results also indicate the respondents' perception or view point of the likely non-auditing services that should not be combined by auditors when extending audit services to their clients. The results of this study have implication for regulatory action both at the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) level and at the self- regulatory level of the accounting profession in Nigeria