Assessment of Sustainability Reporting Practices of Selected Listed Firms in the Nigeria Exchange Group
Sustainability reporting enables investors and other stakeholders to make informed decisions based on financial statements prepared in accordance with sustainability consideration in view. This study aimed to assess sustainability reporting practices of selected companies listed on Nigeria’s Exchange Group by analyzing the extent and manner of adoption, and the effect of voluntary disclosure on the market. Annual reports including sustainability and governance reports of eleven (11) companies selected from five (5) sectors of Nigeria Stock market (representing 10% of listed companies) were purposively explored. Data were extracted for ten years (2011-2020) and subjected to Content Analysis (CA). Results showed that governance was the highest reported, followed by economic impact, then social and, environmental issues. In determining relevant mention, Term Frequency and Inverse Document Frequency (TF.IDF) index was computed and it showed that Economic Impact had the highest relevant mention, followed by Governance, Social and Environmental respectively. The result of test on the extent of adoption of SR in Nigeria showed that economic, governance, social and environmental reporting had Chi Square scores in excess of the critical values at p<0.01, which shows that there is no relationship in SR system among listed companies in Nigeria. It was concluded that selected firms in Nigeria were aware of sustainability reporting and have adopted various manners of presentation to stakeholders. It was recommended that the Nigeria Exchange Group and other regulatory bodies in Nigeria should make sustainability reporting mandatory in Nigeria to prompt its enforcement by listed companies in Nigeria for sustainable development and…