Journal of Finance and Accounting

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Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures: A Call for Integrated Reporting in Nigeria

Received: 27 November 2015    Accepted: 08 December 2015    Published: 25 December 2015
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Abstract

Annual reports of most companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been found to be deficient, because they lack vital financial and non-financial information that would enable stakeholders make informed decisions. The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices of Nigerian quoted companies and discuss the need for integrated reporting (IR). A checklist was developed to capture the ESG disclosures from the annual reports of 40 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over a two-year period from 2013 to 2014. The ESG determinants were proxied by company size, profitability and auditor type. Company size was measured by total assets, profitability was measured by return on equity (ROE), and auditor type was measured by a dummy variable, ‘1‘ for Big 4 and ’0‘ for otherwise. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression. The findings revealed that, the level of ESG disclosure was 53%, this was made up environmental scores (7%), social scores (66%) and governance scores (81%). This showed that governance information was the most disclosed while environmental information was the least disclosed. Findings also revealed that ESG disclosure practice was influenced by auditor type; but not by company size and profitability. The current trend of integrated reporting worldwide calls for Nigerian companies to be proactive. There is a need to improve on ESG practices by integrating the financial and ESG elements to generate a single integrated report, which allows both the company and its stakeholders to make better-informed decisions.

DOI 10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19
Published in Journal of Finance and Accounting (Volume 3, Issue 6, November 2015)
Page(s) 227-233
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Disclosures, Annual Reports, ESG Determinants, Integrated Reporting

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

  • Department of Accountancy, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria

  • Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Adebimpe Otu Umoren, Ekubiat John Udo, Bokime Sunday George. (2015). Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures: A Call for Integrated Reporting in Nigeria. Journal of Finance and Accounting, 3(6), 227-233. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19

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    ACS Style

    Adebimpe Otu Umoren; Ekubiat John Udo; Bokime Sunday George. Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures: A Call for Integrated Reporting in Nigeria. J. Finance Account. 2015, 3(6), 227-233. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19

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    AMA Style

    Adebimpe Otu Umoren, Ekubiat John Udo, Bokime Sunday George. Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures: A Call for Integrated Reporting in Nigeria. J Finance Account. 2015;3(6):227-233. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19,
      author = {Adebimpe Otu Umoren and Ekubiat John Udo and Bokime Sunday George},
      title = {Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures: A Call for Integrated Reporting in Nigeria},
      journal = {Journal of Finance and Accounting},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {227-233},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20150306.19},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfa.20150306.19},
      abstract = {Annual reports of most companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been found to be deficient, because they lack vital financial and non-financial information that would enable stakeholders make informed decisions. The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices of Nigerian quoted companies and discuss the need for integrated reporting (IR). A checklist was developed to capture the ESG disclosures from the annual reports of 40 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over a two-year period from 2013 to 2014. The ESG determinants were proxied by company size, profitability and auditor type. Company size was measured by total assets, profitability was measured by return on equity (ROE), and auditor type was measured by a dummy variable, ‘1‘ for Big 4 and ’0‘ for otherwise. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression. The findings revealed that, the level of ESG disclosure was 53%, this was made up environmental scores (7%), social scores (66%) and governance scores (81%). This showed that governance information was the most disclosed while environmental information was the least disclosed. Findings also revealed that ESG disclosure practice was influenced by auditor type; but not by company size and profitability. The current trend of integrated reporting worldwide calls for Nigerian companies to be proactive. There is a need to improve on ESG practices by integrating the financial and ESG elements to generate a single integrated report, which allows both the company and its stakeholders to make better-informed decisions.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AU  - Adebimpe Otu Umoren
    AU  - Ekubiat John Udo
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    AB  - Annual reports of most companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been found to be deficient, because they lack vital financial and non-financial information that would enable stakeholders make informed decisions. The aim of this study was to investigate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices of Nigerian quoted companies and discuss the need for integrated reporting (IR). A checklist was developed to capture the ESG disclosures from the annual reports of 40 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over a two-year period from 2013 to 2014. The ESG determinants were proxied by company size, profitability and auditor type. Company size was measured by total assets, profitability was measured by return on equity (ROE), and auditor type was measured by a dummy variable, ‘1‘ for Big 4 and ’0‘ for otherwise. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression. The findings revealed that, the level of ESG disclosure was 53%, this was made up environmental scores (7%), social scores (66%) and governance scores (81%). This showed that governance information was the most disclosed while environmental information was the least disclosed. Findings also revealed that ESG disclosure practice was influenced by auditor type; but not by company size and profitability. The current trend of integrated reporting worldwide calls for Nigerian companies to be proactive. There is a need to improve on ESG practices by integrating the financial and ESG elements to generate a single integrated report, which allows both the company and its stakeholders to make better-informed decisions.
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