Sustainability report is a report produced by firms which disclose their economic, environmental and social performance. These reports are normally geared toward the attainment of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs). Even though compliance is voluntary in Nigeria, its effects on firm’s financial performance are enormous and as a result, it is essential for firm’s prosperity as well as better financial performance. This study examines the effect of sustainability reporting on financial performance of quoted Nigerian oil and gas firms. The population of the study comprises 12 listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Census sampling technique was adopted and filter was used. For firm to be selected it must be listed on or before 1st January 2009 and remain listed up to 31st December 2019. The firm must also publish their annual reports for the relevant period of the study. Based on these, five firms that failed to meet the set criteria were filtered out. This study makes use of Return on Asset to measure financial performance. Secondary source was used to collect the relevant data. Data in relation to sustainability reporting were extracted from the firm’s annual reports as well as standalone sustainability reports. However, data in relation financial performance were collected from the firm’s annual reports. Data for this study were analyse using STATA 13 statistical software. The regression result revealed that economic sustainability has a positive insignificant effect on ROA; environmental sustainability has a positive significant effect on ROA while social sustainability has a positive insignificant effect on ROA. Based on the findings, this study therefore, concludes that sustainability reporting has a significant effect on the financial performance of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. This study therefore, recommends among others that, listed Nigerian oil and gas firms should emphasize more on reporting their sustainability activities as it is capable of improving their financial performance. The policy makers and standard setting organisations should facilitate the issuance of a sector specific reporting guidelines to facilitate compliance.

This paper examines the effect of monitoring characteristics on earnings quality of listedconglomerate firms in Nigeria for the period of ten years from 2010-2019. As at 31st December,2019, there were six (6) listed conglomerate firms in Nigeria and all were selected to serve as thesample using census approach. Three variables independent directors, audit committee andinstitutional ownership were used to represent monitoring characteristics. The Francis et al (2005)model was used as measure of earnings quality. Multiple panel regression was used to test the modelof the study using Ordinary Least Square OLS regression and data was collected from the annualreports and accounts of the sampled firms. The findings of the paper revealed that two of themonitoring characteristics variables (IND and INST) positively and significantly affect earningsquality while AC has a significant but negative effect on earnings quality of listed conglomeratefirms in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that, board of directors of listed conglomerate firmsshould compose more of independent directors as it was found to have a significant positiveinfluence on earnings quality, also their ownership structure should comprise more institutionalshareholders as it has been found to improve earnings quality positively.

Financial leverage decision by firm continues to attract interest from managers, analysts, researchers, scholars as well as policymakers because of its implications for the firm and its stakeholders. This paper investigates how the complexity of business, firms’ dependence on external finance and growth opportunity affects the financial leverage decision among quoted diversified companies in Nigeria. The study took a census of six diversified firms quoted on the Nigerian capital market over the period of 10 years (2008-2017). Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix were employed with panel data analysis using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) robust model to analyse the data. The results from the study revealed that the complexity of business and growth opportunity is positive and significantly influencing the financial leverage of quoted diversified companies in Nigeria, while dependence on the external finance revealed a significantly negative effect on the financial leverage. It is recommended that the management of quoted diversified companies in Nigeria should target an optimal capital structure in line of businesses that their streams of revenue are not positively correlated. This can be achieved by taking advantage of growth opportunities in the industries where they can further diversify their businesses and enhance profit generation.

Objective – The Leasing industry in Nigeria is witnessing increased demand for assets under a given prevalence of rising domestic costs of purchase, shortage of foreign exchange for imports as well as persistent depreciation of the Naira. The objective of this paper is to analyze the current state of lease financing in Nigeria, the prospects and challenges with a view to assess the capacity of the industry to continue to provide this form of finance. Design/methodology –The paper adopts an exploratory research design with references to publications, websites and research articles relevant to the subject matter. A number of relevant publications on leasing in Nigeria were duly explored. Results – Our findings show that, the volume of lease finance has consistently grown over the last 14 years (2005-2018). Finance leases volume totaled 1.68 trillion naira in 2018 alone. Banks as market participants in the Nigerian lease industry finance other non-bank lessors while the non-bank lessors account for about 80% of lease transactions mostly to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs). Funding remains a major challenge restricting provision of leases to general supporting equipment and constraining leases of specialized assets (big-ticket leases). Prospects for lease finance obtain in terms of rising popularity of operating leases with lessors and lessees, attributable to the inherent mitigation against default risk. There is also potential for a growing customer base beyond MSMEs, with the influx of patronage by listed corporate firms especially those in the healthcare and education sectors. We identified financing partnerships, development of sound corporate governance practices, hastened inauguration of the Equipment Leasing Registration Authority and increased sensitization of potential leasehold product consumers on the benefits of lease finance, as critical success factors for the lease industry in Nigeria.

Cash holding decision is one of the most significant decisions taken by the financial managers of any manufacturing firms. The decision not only depends upon the theoretical view but also the firm–specific variables and Firm dynamism variables of the economy. This paper aims at shedding light on the empirical effect of Firm dynamism and firm characteristics on corporate cash holding. The population of the consist of 51 manufacturing firms listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, while the adjusted population of 35 firms was arrived based on availability of data. Correlational research design was adopted. The study was anchored on pecking order and resource dependence theory. Multiple regression was employed to analyse data extracted from annual report of selected manufacturing firms in Nigeria from the period of 2012 to 2019. The result of the findings shows that investment opportunity has positive and significant relationship with corporate cash holding. However, negative and significant relationship was found between female leadership, leverage and corporate cash holding. In line with the findings, the study therefore recommends that, to enhance the effectiveness of boards and the efficient use of cash, firms with fewer women on their corporate boards now should look to add more female directors to their boards. Managers should also rationally presume that a firm with high quick asset replacements, high debt, and equity expense should maintain lower cash holdings. If for the unusual object, a firm with high quick asset delegates, high debt, and equity expense has high cash holdings, this force is a flag of a potential agency conflict. Managers should avoid holding excessive cash reserves as this might attract scrutiny from the capital markets.

This paper examined impact of agency costs on financial performance of listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria. The research utilized documentary data collected from annual reports of consumer goods companies in Nigeria for the period of 2007-2016. A panel data regression technique was employed. The study reveals inverse relationship between agency costs and financial performance, indicating that agency costs will lead to a decline in financial performance, if not properly managed. Based on this result the study recommends that managements of listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria should lay down effective rules and regulations that will ensure avoidance of keeping free cash flow at managers’ discretion so that agency costs could be minimized and effectively managed. This could be achieved by complying with the suggestions by free cash flow hypothesis paying it out in the form of cash dividend or committing the firms in to more financial obligations which requires periodic interest payments. There should be critical reviewed before such action are taken by companies in consumer goods industries.