Green Accounting Practices and Business Health of Listed Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria (2012-2021)

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the effect of green accounting practice on business health of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Objectively, the study focuses on the proprietary ratio and earnings per share as the proxies for business health. Ex-post facto research design was adopted to provide important information on phenomenon under investigation without any manipulation of the situation. The philosophical approach that was adopted is positivism. The study adapted the model used by Olayinka and Oluwamayowa (2017) which expressed financial performance proxied by return on asset as a function of the adoption of green accounting practice disclosure. Consequently, it was discovered that waste management practices disclosure had a negative and insignificant effect on earnings per share to the tune of -0.0155705 (p=0.964 > 0.05). This outcome is against the expected positive effect and by implication, it connotes that with just a 1% increase in waste management practices disclosure, earnings per share will reduce by 0.02%. The inference of this discovery is that waste management practices disclosure has no potency to significantly influence earnings per share of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. It is negative, probably because avoidance or ineffective waste reduction or waste avoidance tends to maximize cost in the organization, thereby resulting in low performance and sustainability. Finally, it was revealed that green restoration practices disclosure had a negative effect on proprietary ratio and earnings per share. However, the negative effect is significant for earnings per share to the tune of -0.5270926 (p=0.000<0.05) against the insignificant effect on proprietary ratio with the coefficient and probability value of -2.781 (p=0.356>0.05). By implication, this means that earnings per share and propriety ratio would reduce by 0.53% and 2.78%, when green accounting practices in terms of green restoration practices disclosure increase by 1%. It was concluded that green accounting practices still have the capacity to influence the business health of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria.