Nigerian Banks Pay N7.7 Billion To Audit Firms In 2021

According to Nairametrics, Access bank, GT Bank, First Bank Nigeria, UBA, Zenith Bank, FCMB, Stanbic Bank, Fidelity bank, Sterling bank, Union Bank, Unity Bank and Jaiz Bank paid an aggregate of N7.72 billion to auditing firms in 2021, which is 25.1% and 36.1% higher compared to N6.17 billion and N5.67 billion spent in 2020 and 2019 respectively.

For all public companies, it is a statutory requirement for them to have their accounts vetted and audited by independent auditors.

This is because external auditors examine the bookkeeping records of the companies without the filter of personal relationships, which could cloud their judgement.

Audit firms are paid for their services by these companies.

Some companies audit their finances twice a year, while others audit annually.

 In Nigeria, PwC, KPMG,EY, and Deloitte are  the major names that easily come to mind when talking about audit firms.

These audit firms are generally referred to as  “the big four”.