FIRM IDIOSYNCRASIES AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCLOSURE COSTS OF NON-FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) is the way companies report or show their actions and decisions as it affects Sustainable business development and environmental responsibilities (environment, communities’ employees and other stakeholders) through accounting qualitative and quantitative idiosyncratic information as required by laws and principles regulating corporate reporting entities. However, some reporting entities in Nigeria stock market are not forthcoming with efficient compliance to this statutory demand as a result of weak regulations or perceived incremental costs the disclosure imposes on the reporting firms as shown by revealed investigations through prior studies from both developed and developing countries. In many instances, disclosed information through the firm idiosyncrasies are shrouded in secrecy in Nigeria with no clear-cut direction of disclosures established (nil, little or full). Many of the prior studies concentrated on financial firms and oil industry while some others done were seen from the perspective of determining CSRD via firm characteristic of one or two elements (firm financial performance and firm size). Nevertheless, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of firm idiosyncrasies on corporate social responsibility disclosure costs of non-financial firms in Nigerian stock exchange. The evaluation involved identifying the current practices of corporate social responsibility disclosure costs in three areas of environment, community and employees and their relationship with the firm idiosyncratic information of size, financial performance, ownership structures, industry profile and age of listing as a moderating variable that formed the specific objectives for a sixteen (16) years 2000 to 2015 duration. The limiting factor faced by the study centered on inconsistency in the data obtained from the non-financial listed firms. Cross-sectional survey research design was used while secondary panel data collected from sixty-six (66) annual reports of the non - financial listed firms of Nigerian Stock Exchange were employed in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used with the application of the panel data model to interpret and estimate the corporate social responsibility disclosures regression equation formulated. The effects of all the explanatory variables were positive and statistically significant at all levels of corporate social responsibility disclosure costs measured by increase in disclosure costs except for firm industry profile with no significance on disclosure costs. In view of the results, it was concluded that both mandatory and voluntary disclosures were observable in the non-financial firms in the Nigerian Stock Exchange though at a minimal level or weak form since compliance rate were in a low form. In view of this result, the study recommended that government, stock market authority and firm managers should strive more towards strengthening the weak disclosure in reporting at all disclosure levels of the reporting entity while sanctions can be introduced to instigate high compliance as much as possible from the reporting entities. It was further recommended that researchers in the field of environmental accounting in the developing economy should strive to explore the suggestions made in the study to enhance higher and efficient disclosures in both public institutions and stock market in particular.