The effect of automated accounting systems (AAS) on audit independence: Empirical Evidence from South West, Nigeria.

Amos Olusola AKINOLA, Adekunle Olusola OLADEJO, Ebenezer Foluso OLUWAKAYODE, Abud-Azeez Adetunji ADEREMI

Accounting Department, Osun State University, Okuku Campus, Osun State, Nigeria

Management and Accounting Department, Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Correspondence: [email protected]

Received: 1, 19, 2024,    Revised: 25, 5, 2024,     Published: June 30, 2024

Abstract

This study examines the effect of an automated accounting system (AAS) on the audit independence of external auditors in South-West, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design with primary data sourced through a structured questionnaire drawn on four Likert scales and a total of 514 copies of the questionnaire physically/virtually administered to auditors (randomly selected) in private engagement in six states of South West, Nigeria.  362 valid questionnaires were descriptively analysed using percentages and mean. Also, inferential statistics were applied with multiple regression analysis. The findings show that there are positive significant effects of AAS on program, investigative, and reporting independence. Furthermore, it reveals that there is a positive significant effect of AAS on independent in fact of external auditors. It is therefore recommended that private and public entities should embrace automation of accounting functions as this redresses the incidence of familiarity and direct interference with the audit process by clients (auditees).

 

Keywords: Accounting automation; external audit independence; investigative independence; program independence; reporting independence.


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.23918/ejmss.V5i1p1


Citation

Akinola, A. O., et al. (2024). The effect of automated accounting systems (AAS) on audit independence: Empirical evidence from South West, Nigeria. Eurasian Journal of Management & Social Sciences, 5(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.23918/ejmss.V5i1p1


© Akinola, A. O., et al. (2024). Published by EJMSS. This article is published under the Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) license. Anyone may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/


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