Sustainability Reporting and Retained Earnings Growth of Quoted Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of sustainability reporting on retained earnings growth of quoted companies in Nigeria. A sample size of 28 quoted firms was selected from the population of 167 quoted companies on Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 31^st December, 2018. Ex-post facto research design was adopted with the tool of content analysis. Company age and financial leverage were used as control variables. Correlation statistics and panel regression analysis were adopted for the study. The Prob. (F-stat.) of pooled OLS is 0.7105 which is greater than the 5% level of significant adopted for the study. This implies that sustainability reporting has no significant effect on retained earnings growth of quoted companies in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends that sustainability reporting should be integrated into companies` value chain to enhance profitability and boost future earnings which can results in continuous growth in retained earnings, all things been equal.

Keywords: Sustainability reporting, retained earnings growth, company age, financial leverage