Redefining Audit Efficiency: A Model for Streamlined Financial Reporting in Nigerian Chartered Accounting Practices

This critical review examines how Nigerian chartered accounting practices can redefine audit efficiency and streamline financial reporting. It applies a structured thematic synthesis of 250 DOI-verified, peer-reviewed and institutional sources published through 2022, coding the evidence across four dimensions: conceptual definition, causal mechanism, empirical support, and implementation constraint. Grounded in agency theory, audit-quality theory, institutional (isomorphism) theory, and lean process-efficiency theory, the synthesis shows that efficiency in Nigerian audit practice follows from standardized workflows, risk-focused procedures, independent audit-committee oversight, staff capability, and timely review, while professional judgment continues to protect audit quality where formal controls are weak. Unlike prior single-determinant studies of Nigerian audit quality, which typically isolate one governance variable at a time, this review's contribution is an integrative operating model that connects audit inputs, workflow design, review discipline, reporting accuracy, and engagement performance into a single framework, together with four testable propositions and a Nigeria-specific research agenda for stronger validation, transparency, and institutional comparison. The review also proposes a repositioned role for chartered accounting firms as active drivers, rather than passive recipients, of digital transformation, continuous auditing, and regulatory reform in Nigeria's financial reporting ecosystem.