Corporate Social Sustainability Reporting and Financial Performance of Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria

This study examined corporate social sustainability reporting and financial performance of Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria. Issues regarding corporate sustainability have gained global relevance in recent times owing to the increasing awareness that activities of most organizations may have adverse implicational effects on the ecosystems, societies, and environments of the future. Thus, companies are now being required to extend their strategic policies and information reportage to encompass sustainability reporting practices in order to meet the environmental and social needs of both current and future stakeholders. It is on this light that this study was set out to examine the effect of sustainability reporting on the financial performance of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. This study assessed the effect of corporate social sustainability reporting on Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Return on Capital Employed of oil and gas companies listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Ten oil and gas companies were sampled for the study. The study utilized secondary data collected via financial ratios and accounts of the individual companies and content analysis. The findings showed that social sustainability reporting exerts negative effect on all three performance proxies, howbeit only its effect on return on equity was statistically significant. The study recommends, among others, that existing sustainability reporting standards should be aligned to reflect country-specific social and environmental challenges, while its implementation should rather be obligatory rather than voluntary.