IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dug/jaccma/y2015i3p5-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meaning And Interpretation of Unqualified Opinion of External Auditors: Perceptions of External Auditors and Users of Audited Financial Statements in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Obiamaka NWOBU

    (Covenant University Auditing, Gender, Corporate Sustainability and Accountability, Nigeria)

Abstract

This research examined the meaning and interpretation given to unqualified opinion of an external auditor. This main objective was deemed important because of the expectation gap theory that proposes that there are different expectations of the external auditor and users of audited financial reports pertaining to the extent of dependence on the auditors’ opinion. Questionnaire was designed to collect data from external auditors, accountants in business, lender employees and investors. The study found significant differences in the perception of the respondents pertaining to meanings associated with unqualified opinion of external auditors. There were significant differences in the opinion of respondents that such reports can be relied upon to make investment decisions, means that the financial statement is not free from fraud, shows that the financial statements show a true and fair view of the state of affairs, the company is a safe investment haven and the financial statements are free from material misstatements respectively. These findings have implications for the accounting profession. There is need for more investor education both on the part of the accounting profession and business organizations. We recommend that external auditors explain the extent to which audit reports can be relied upon by users of such reports in the financial statements. This should reduce the gap between the expectations of the users and external auditors.

Suggested Citation

  • Obiamaka NWOBU, 2015. "Meaning And Interpretation of Unqualified Opinion of External Auditors: Perceptions of External Auditors and Users of Audited Financial Statements in Nigeria," The Journal of Accounting and Management, Danubius University of Galati, issue 3, pages 5-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:dug:jaccma:y:2015:i:3:p:5-13
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/jam/article/view/3080
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Epps, Ruth W. & Cereola, Sandra J., 2008. "Do institutional shareholder services (ISS) corporate governance ratings reflect a company's operating performance?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1135-1148.
    2. Leuz, C & Verrecchia, RE, 2000. "The economic consequences of increased disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 91-124.
    3. Fama, Eugene F, et al, 1969. "The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Alan Murray & Donald Sinclair & David Power & Rob Gray, 2006. "Do financial markets care about social and environmental disclosure?: Further evidence and exploration from the UK," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(2), pages 228-255, February.
    5. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    6. Carol A. Tilt, 2009. "Corporate Responsibility, Accounting and Accountants," Springer Books, in: Samuel O. Idowu & Walter Leal Filho (ed.), Professionals' Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility, chapter 0, pages 11-32, Springer.
    7. Jose M. Moneva & Eduardo Ortas, 2008. "Are stock markets influenced by sustainability matter? Evidence from European companies," International Journal of Sustainable Economy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 1-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oxelheim, Lars & Rafferty, Michael, 2005. "On the static efficiency of secondary bond markets," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 117-135, April.
    2. Carol Alexander & Anca Dimitriu, 2003. "Equity Indexing: Conitegration and Stock Price Dispersion: A Regime Switiching Approach to market Efficiency," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2003-02, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Thomas Delcey, 2019. "Samuelson vs Fama on the Efficient Market Hypothesis: The Point of View of Expertise [Samuelson vs Fama sur l’efficience informationnelle des marchés financiers : le point de vue de l’expertise]," Post-Print hal-01618347, HAL.
    4. Marcos Albuquerque Junior & José António Filipe & Paulo de Melo Jorge Neto & Cristiano da Silva, 2021. "The Study of Events Approach Applied to the Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Performance of Consulting Engineering Companies," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Chia-Lin Chang & Shu-Han Hsu & Michael McAleer, 2018. "An Event Study Analysis of Political Events, Disasters, and Accidents for Chinese Tourists to Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-77, November.
    6. Chang, Yingying & Du, Xingqiang & Zeng, Quan, 2021. "Does environmental information disclosure mitigate corporate risk? Evidence from China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    7. Maneenop, Sakkakom & Kotcharin, Suntichai, 2020. "The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry: An event study approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Gok, Ibrahim Yasar & Demirdogen, Yavuz & Topuz, Sefa, 2020. "The impacts of terrorism on Turkish equity market: An investigation using intraday data," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    9. Andreas Zingg & Sebastian Lang & Daniela Wyttenbach, 2007. "Insider Trading in the Swiss Stock Market," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 143(III), pages 331-362, September.
    10. Alexander S. Sangare, 2005. "Efficience des marchés : un siècle après Bachelier," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 81(4), pages 107-132.
    11. Fracarolli Nunes, Mauro & Lee Park, Camila & Shin, Hyunju, 2021. "Corporate social and environmental irresponsibilities in supply chains, contamination, and damage of intangible resources: A behavioural approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Xu, Mingli & Yang, Wei & Huang, Zhixiong, 2021. "Do investor relations matter in the tourism industry? Evidence from public opinions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 923-933.
    13. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, July.
    14. Jovanovic, Franck & Andreadakis, Stelios & Schinckus, Christophe, 2016. "Efficient market hypothesis and fraud on the market theory a new perspective for class actions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 177-190.
    15. Kenneth W. Clements & Liang Li, 2014. "Valuing Resource Investments," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 14-27, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    16. Chia-Lin Chang & Shu-Han Hsu & Michael McAleer, 2018. "An Event Study of Chinese Tourists to Taiwan," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-003/III, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. AitSahlia, Farid & Yoon, Joon-Hui, 2016. "Information stages in efficient markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 84-94.
    18. Ziliotto, Arianna & Serati, Massimiliano, 2015. "The semi-strong efficiency debate: In search of a new testing framework," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 412-438.
    19. Jean-Yves Filbien & Fabien Labondance, 2012. "Reactions Des Marches D’Actions De La Zone Euro Aux Annonces Non Anticipees De La Bce," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 55(2), pages 179-204.
    20. He, Lerong & Wan, Hong & Zhou, Xin, 2014. "How are political connections valued in China? Evidence from market reaction to CEO succession," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 141-152.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dug:jaccma:y:2015:i:3:p:5-13. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Florian Nuta (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fedanro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.