Effect of Sustainability Reporting on Relevance of Accounting Information of Deposit Money Banks Listed in Nigeria

Abstract

The need for managers to prepare financial statements through sustainability report that possesses to a large degree the elements of quality cannot be over emphasized which have become a global concern and necessity. The quality of accounting information of any entity will affect the quality of its reports. The quality of reports to a large extent will determine investors decisions and financial managerial decisions but in most cases the decisions are lacking in quality as a result of the quality of the information contained in the reports. This paper investigated the effect of sustainability reporting on the relevance of accounting information of deposit money banks listed in Nigeria. The paper employed ex post facto research design. The population was 21 deposit money banks in Nigeria. The sample size consisted of 13 listed deposit money banks on the NSE for the 15-year period under study (2004 – 2018). Data was obtained from published annual reports of the sampled banks validated by certification of external auditors and CAMA. Descriptive and inferential (multiple regression) statistics were used to analyze the data. The paper found out that Sustainability reporting measures have significant and positive effect on relevance of accounting information (F – stat = 63.92, Adj. R² = 0.694, p = 0.000 i.e. p<0.05); The paper concluded that sustainability reporting measures (Environmental and social risk management, environmental and social footprint, women economic empowerment, financial inclusion and reporting) have significant effect on quality of accounting information (relevance) of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. This paper therefore recommended that Banks should disclose environmental and risk management policies that are relevant in the financial statements for the users of accounting information.