Review of Contemporary Business Research
March 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 99-114
ISSN: 2333-6412 (Print), 2333-6420 (Online)
Copyright © The Author(s). 2014. All Rights Reserved.
American Research Institute for Policy Development
42 Monticello Street, New York, NY 12701, USA.
Phone: 1.347.757.4901 Website: www.aripd.org/rcbr
Firm Attributes and E arnings Quality of listed Oil and Gas Companies in
Nigeria
Shehu Usman Hassan
1
and Musa Adeiza Farouk
2
Abstract
This paper is an empirical investigation of firm attributes and earnings quality of
listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria for the period of 2007-2011. The listed Oil
and Gas firms are Nine (9) in numbers out of which a sample of Seven (7) were
used for the study. Firm attributes as the independent variable was proxy with firm
size , leverage, Institutional ownership, profitability, liquidity and firm growth),
While the residuals from the modified Jones model by Dechow et ‘al (1995) was
used to proxy earnings quality. The study adopts multiple panel regression
techniques and data were collected from secondary source through the annual
reports and accounts of the firms. The findings reveal that leverage, liquidity and
firm growth has a significant positive impact on earnings quality while firm size ,
institutional ownership and profitability have a significant but negative influence on
earnings quality of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. It is recommended
among others that the oil and gas companies may choose to go for more debt
especially where the interest rate is considerably low and also increase their liquidity
asset and turnover as it has been found empirically to enhance the quality of the
firms reported earnings.
Keywords: Firm Attributes, E arnings Quality and Oil and Gas Companies
1
PhD, Department of Accounting, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria, E -mail:
Shehu.hassanus.usman@ gmail.com , Tel: +2348067766435, +2348057777085
2
Department of Accounting, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria, E -mail:
musafarouk@ yahoo.com or mscmusafarouk@ yahoo.com , Tel: +2348034063226, +2348079589428