Companies Financial Attributes and Environmental Accounting Practices of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria

This study is an empirical investigation of the environmental accounting practices of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and the influence of companies’ financial attributes (profitability, leverage, liquidity and value added by the Firm) on environmental accounting disclosure practices (EADP). Ex-post facto research design was adopted in the study. An environmental disclosure index in line with Global Reporting Initiative, GRI (2006/2008) was developed and environmental data from the annual reports of the ten oil and gas companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, over a seven-year period, 2009 – 2015 were captured using content analysis. The data obtained was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study reveals that on an average, the sampled companies’ environmental accounting disclosure practices level is 13%. Findings reveal that the sampled oil and gas companies were disclosing very inadequate and non-financial environmental information in their annual reports. Also, profitability (ROA) has significant negative influence on environmental accounting disclosure practices; liquidity (CR) has insignificant influence on EADP while leverage and the value added by the Firm have significant positive influence on EADP. There is need to improve EADP by oil and gas companies in Nigeria while government should give tax incentives to companies that comply so as to improve the environmental performance of firms and the nation’s sustainable development.