Environmental Accounting Disclosure and Financial Performance of Listed Multinational Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated environmental accounting disclosure and financial performance of listed multinational companies in Nigeria. This study was conducted by firstly assessing the level of compliance, and then exploring the effect of environmental disclosure on financial performance with a focus on multinational companies in the face of continued environmental abuse witnessed in the Nigerian business space owing to the non-availability of sustainability reporting legal framework. The study used secondary data obtained from the published annual reports of the companies from 2011 to 2020. Data collected (Environmental disclosure index, return on asset, earnings per share), were analyzed using descriptive statistics and panel regression analysis. It was discovered that in assessing level of compliance, out of the three sectors assessed, oil and gas was the least compliant. Also, results showed that environmental accounting disclosure had a significant and positive effect on earnings per share (EAPS) but a negative and insignificant effect on return on asset (RETA). The study, therefore, concluded that the extent of responsiveness of companies to environmental accounting disclosure influences how the company is valued.The study, therefore, recommended that multinational companies and other Nigerian firms, should make effort to disclose their environmental-related activities even though it is not required by law, as it has shown evidence of its influence on earnings on shares of companies.