Sustainability Reporting: Imperative for Turnover Growth
Adegbie Folajimi Festus
Department of Accounting, School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilishan-remo, Nigeria.
Akintoye Ishola Rufus
Department of Accounting, School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilishan-remo, Nigeria.
Taiwo Oluwasikemi Janet *
Department of Accounting, School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilishan-remo, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Growth in revenue of firms is an indicator to stakeholders that the firm is improving. Thus, creating the need for firms to ensure a continuous increase in their turnover. This study examined the effect of sustainability reporting on turnover growth of quoted companies in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design with 167 listed firms as the population. 28 quoted firms were chosen with the use of purposive sampling. Data from 2009 to 2018 were obtained from secondary sources. Content analysis was employed as a tool to analyse the disclosures in sustainability reports. The model was estimated using Pooled OLS (multivariate regression). Company age and financial leverage were used as control variables. The study found that the compliance level of the sampled firms with sustainability reporting requirements for the four dimensions are below average, however, sustainability reporting has a significant effect on turnover growth with Prob. (F-stat) of 0.0463<0.05. Therefore, the study recommends that management of firms should intensity efforts to ensure maximum compliance with GRI sustainability guidelines.
Keywords: Sustainability reporting, turnover growth, company age, financial leverage, Global Reporting Initiation (GRI)