Audit and Board Committee Expertise and Financial Statement Fraud among Listed Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

Financial statement fraud is the intentional falsification of financial information in order to defraud investors, creditor or other stakeholders. This study focused on the influence of audit and board committee expertise on financial statement fraud among Oil and Gas firms in Nigeria. The sample consist of seven (7) oil and gas companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange group (NGX) over a period of 2013-2022, the study used panel regression. Financial statement fraud used as Dependent Variable is measured using the Beneish M-score model, while the independent variable was audit Committee Expertise and Board Committee Expertise using Accounting/Financial background. Findings show that an insignificant association exists between audit committee expertise, the composition of the board and financial statement fraud. This research suggests that regulatory bodies and industry association persist in their efforts to endorse sound corporate governance practices and addressing the challenging associated with board committee expertise.