Environmental Auditing and Environmental Performance of Listed Companies In Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

Assurance services are encapsulated in environmental auditing of corporate entity in order to assured or attested to the credibility of environmental compliance of corporate entity to the environmental stakeholders and to authenticate their environmental performance. Thus, the study examined the effect of environmental auditing on the environmental performance of listed companies in Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The study employed longitudinal panel regression technique to dissect the data. Data were extracted from audited financial statements sampled firms. The findings revealed that audit firm quality, audit committee gender diversity and audit committee diligence demonstrated a positive and statistically significant nexus with environmental performance index. While in the order hand, audit committee size showed a negative but insignificant relationship with environmental performance index. The study concluded that fixed effect results revealed that substantive governance mechanisms particularly audit committee gender diversity and diligence played a critical role in improving environmental performance among the listed firms in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consistent with legitimacy theory, these findings suggest that firms achieve legitimacy not merely through symbolic compliance but through proactive and inclusive governance practices that responds to evolving societal expectations regarding environmental responsibility. Keywords: assurance services, environmental auditing, environmental performance, legitimacy theory