ACCOUNTING INFORMATION AND DIVIDEND PAYOUT OF LISTED OIL AND GAS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

A company's main goal and objective is to maximize profit in order to meet shareholder expectations for dividend payments. Any investor whether an institutional investor or an individual the goal is the maximization of expected returns from their investments to a suitable point. As such, investors will desire to invest their resources in stocks of company with a higher dividend which will eventually increase the investor's wealth thereby conveying information about the management's assessment of the firm's future prospects thereby sending a strong signal to the market. This study analyses the impact of accounting information on dividend payout of listed oil and gas firms in Nigerian. The study used secondary data obtained from audited annual reports and accounts of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The population of the study includes all the 12 listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria Exchange Group as at 31st December, 2021 with a sample size of 10 listed oil and gas firm. The study covers a period of 10 years from 2012-2021. This study uses a simple random sampling method. The panel regression was used in analysing the data. From the analysis of the study, it was found that profitability has an insignificant positive relationship with dividend payout. Liquidity is significantly positive on dividend payout at 10%. However, leverage shows an insignificant positive relationship with dividend payout, while on the other hand firm size reveals a significant negative relationship with dividend payout. Therefore, the study recommends that, management of the companies should retain more of the companies' total profits for reinvestment especially when there are opportunities for growth and needs for expansion. The firms should prudently explore the use of debt financing to be invested in viable projects that would boost their revenue generation.