AUDIT REPORTING LAG AND FIRM VALUE IN NIGERIAN LISTED CONSUMER GOODS FIRMS: DOES DIFFERENCE IN PROXIES MATTER?

The Nigerian capital market has been increasingly inundated with reports of imposition of fines by the authorities of the Nigerian Exchange Commission arising from late filings of audited financial statements, despite the apparent upward trend in firm value measures. Previous empirical studies, with focus on the Nigerian consumer goods firms, have paid less attention to the empirical question of whether these fines, which suggest audit delays, influence different measures of firm value. It is against this backdrop that this study examined the effect of audit reporting lag on firm value in listed consumer goods firms. This study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The study's sample consisted of ten (10) purposefully selected Nigerian listed consumer goods firms. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested. We analysed the collected data using descriptive and inferential statistics, employing E-Views version 12.0. We analysed the data at a significance level exceeding five percent (5%). Findings revealed that audit reporting lag has a significant effect on stock returns (as a market-based financial performance measure) of the selected listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria (λ = -.4680, p-value <0.05). It was also revealed that audit reporting lag has a significant effect on Tobin's q (another market-based financial performance measure) of the selected listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria (β= -5.3774, p-value <0.05). Based on these findings, the study concluded that audit reporting lag has a significant impact on the firm value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that many listed Nigerian consumer goods firms should engage more industry-specialised auditors to reduce audit reporting lag, improve the timeliness of their reporting and consequently, increase their firm value.