FirstBank, Zenith, UBA, others paid N7.7bn as audit fee in 2021
First Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank, UBA, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity, Sterling, Union, Unity, and Jaiz Bank are among the listed Nigerian commercial banks that paid a cumulative of N7.72 billion to auditing firms in 2021. The total sum is 25.1% and 36.1% higher compared to N6.17 billion and N5.67 billion spent in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
The audit firms, also known as “The Big Four”, which received the substantial amount, include PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte with PwC receiving the highest fee of N3.17 billion in 2021.
The exercise is part of a statutory requirement for all publicly listed companies to have their accounts vetted and audited by independent auditors.
Meanwhile, Access Bank, a newly restructured holding company with the largest assets among the banks, led the list of banks with the highest audit cost in 2021 with N1.69 billion paid to PwC.
GTCo, another newly restructured holding company, followed with N1.17 billion spent as audit fees in 2021. Meanwhile, GT Bank’s total assets rose by 10.12% in the review year to N5.45 trillion, representing the fifth-largest bank in the country by total assets.
FirstBank, another holding company, paid N1.15 billion to KPMG as audit fee in 2021, which is 14.8% higher than the N950 million it paid to the same company in 2020.
Others include UBA – N1.09 billion; Zenith Bank – N1.06 billion; FCMB – N457.1 million; Stanbic IBTC – N422 million and Fidelity Bank – N195 million.
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