EFFECT OF BIG DATA ON THE QUALITY OF AUDIT REPORTS IN ANAMBRA STATE

This research work is on the effect of big data on the quality of audit reports in Anambra State. The following three specific objectives were considered; to determine the effect of volume of data collected on the sufficiency of the audit reports in Anambra State, secondly, to evaluate the effect of frequency of data collected on the timeliness of audit reports in Anambra State, thirdly, to ascertain the effect of value of data collected on the verifiability of the audit reports in Anambra State. Survey research design, descriptive statistics and correlation matrix were employed alongside the pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression in analyzing the data and testing of hypotheses. The findings of the study from the three models tested were that; Volume of Data Collection (VDC) has a positive effect on the sufficiency, timeliness and verifiability of audit reports but had positive insignificant effect on the sufficiency of audit reports. Secondly, Frequency of Data Collection (FDC) has a positive significant effect on the sufficiency, timeliness and verifiability of audit reports and finally, Value of Data Collection (VALDC) has negative significant effect on the verifiability but have a positive insignificant effect on the sufficiency and timeliness of audit reports in Anambra State. The researcher recommends that: Auditor-General’s Offices and Auditing firms that wish to improve on the quality of their audit report through the use of big data collection, measured as Volume of Data Collected(VDC) and Frequency of Data Collection (FDC) in Anambra State should adopt sufficiency, timeliness and verifiability of audit reports as they have positive and significant influence on audit reports and may choose to ignore sufficiency of audit reports as though it has a positive effect but the effect is not statistically significant. Finally, for those that want to improve on the quality of their audit reports through the use of big data measured as Value of Data Collection (VALDC) in Anambra State, they may choose to ignore the use of sufficiency and verifiability of audit report as they were found to have a positive influence but this influence was statistically insignificant but should concentrate more on ensuring that they maintain good timeliness of audit reports as it has a negative significant effect on the quality of audit reports.