Peace Ebunoluwa Kolawole

Economic theory posits that competition drives efficiency; the extent to which this is true in an oligopolistic audit market poses an empirical challenge. Furthermore, studies have postulated that both traditional and modern industrial organization theories are relevant for analyzing market competition. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of static and dynamic audit market competition on audit efficiency in the Nigerian banking industry. Secondary data were obtained from the audited annual financial statements of 12 banks from 2006 to 2020. The study adopted a 2-stage regression model; in the first stage, the audit efficiency scores were derived from an output-based, variable-return-to-scale version of data envelopment analysis (DEA) comprising audit report lag and audit fees as audit input variables and audit quality as the audit output variable. The efficiency scores were regressed on audit market competition and some control variables in the second stage via the bootstrapped truncated regression technique to analyze the effect of competition on efficiency in the audit market. The results showed a positive association between static competition and audit efficiency (50.57, p = 0.014). Because high concentration implied low competition, this finding implied that efficiency was impaired because of a lack of significant competition. The results also showed a positive and significant association between dynamic competition and efficiency, which implied that dynamic competition enhanced efficiency (0.21, p = 0.000) in the audit market. The study concluded that static competition impairs efficiency, while dynamic competition ensures efficiency in the Nigerian banking industry.

Developing countries are characterized by a low level of tax compliance arising from weaknesses in tax administration and trust deficits. This poses a critical challenge toward the attainment of developmental goals. This paper aims to examine the moderating role of trust in tax authorities for the relationship between tax administration and personal income tax compliance in Nigeria. The study used a survey design to obtain data through a structured questionnaire administered to randomly selected individual taxpayers from Nigeria; 365 responses were collected. The OLS results revealed that tax administration significantly influences personal income tax compliance (β = 0.301, t = 4.068, and p-value = 0.000). Trust in tax authorities significantly influences personal income tax compliance (β = 0.183, t-value = 3.650, and p-value = 0.000). Furthermore, the result showed that trust in tax authorities positively moderates the relationship between tax administration and personal income tax compliance (β = 0.323, t = 4.098, and p-value = 0.000). This study concludes that tax administration significantly affects personal income tax compliance, and trust in tax authorities moderates this relationship in Nigeria.