The Relationship between Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Profitability and Shareholders Fund in Nigerian Banks

This study examined the annual reports of eight (8) banks in Nigeria for the presence or absence of sustainability reporting. This is important because of the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reporting guidelines for financial institutions. This paper is an attempt to build on determinants of corporate sustainability reporting using accounting based measure of organizational performance. A content analysis methodology was employed. The variant of content analysis used is that which uses a disclosure index. Therefore, a content analysis of the banks’ annual report was carried out against the researchers’ sustainability reporting checklist. Data on the independent variables namely Profit After Tax (PAT) and Shareholders Fund (SHF) was also extracted from the annual reports of the banks. The results of this study indicated that sustainability reporting has received substantial attention over the past four (4) years in the Nigerian banking sector. Furthermore, the study found a small positive correlation of 0.28 between sustainability reporting index and Profit After Tax (PAT). The study also found a small positive correlation of 0.18 between sustainability reporting index and shareholders fund. The findings of this study enhanced theorizing between corporate sustainability reporting and organizational profitability and is relevant for researchers. Sustainability reporting in the Nigerian banking sector is gaining attention from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and it is important to examine how well banks are responding. The extent of sustainability reporting in the banks is necessary to evaluate how well they are responding to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sustainability banking principles and reporting guidelines. This study also contributes to theorizing the relationship between sustainability reporting and profitability using accounting based measure of organizational performance. &nbsp