CORPORATE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE (CSED) AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN INDUSTRIAL GOODS COMPANIES

This study examined the effect of Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure (CSED) on the financial performance of industrial goods companies in Nigeria. This study is important as it describes the level of CSED impact on company's financial performance. This study used Environmental Disclosure (ED) and Social Disclosure (SD) as independent variables, Return on Equity (ROE) and Tobin Q as measures for financial performance and firm size as a control variable. This study formulated two hypotheses to guide the study and used a panel regression model in testing the statistical parameter estimates. In addition, the study used a sample of 13 industrial goods companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) with data collected from their annual reports for a period of 10 years ranging from 2011-2020. Using ROE as a proxy for financial performance, the findings of this study show that environmental disclosure has a positive and significant relationship with financial performance while social disclosure has a negative and significant relationship. In addition, the results of the study show that environmental disclosure has a positive and insignificant relationship while social disclosure has a negative and significant relationship with financial performance when measured with Tobin's Q. Therefore, the study concluded that environmental and social disclosures are important determinants of financial performance in Nigeria. Flowing from the findings, the study recommended amongst others that companies should strive to engage more on environmental conservative activities.