VALUE RELEVANCE OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL DISCLOSURE OF CONSUMER GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Separation of a firm’s ownership and management and the resulting information asymmetry have led to investors and shareholders needing value-relevant information about factors influencing the economic development and success of a company. This study examined the value relevance of intellectual capital disclosure of the listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Data were collected from one hundred and seventy financial years (seventeen firms in Nigeria from 2013-2022) out of twenty-one firms to test the value relevance of intellectual capital disclosure of firms in Nigeria. The study analysed the data by means of descriptive statistics to provide summary statistics for the variables. Similarly, the study employed Robust Ordinary Least Square regressions to test the study hypotheses using STATA software. The regression results revealed that human capital disclosure, structural capital disclosure and the overall intellectual capital disclosure have significant positive impact on firm value measured by share price. The result however, showed that relational capital disclosure is not value relevant for the firms. This study therefore concludes that intellectual capital disclosure is value relevant for the firms and recommends that firms in consumers goods sector should provide more information on intellectual capital voluntarily since it is value relevant for decision making, which will ultimately lead to competitive advantage and future cash flows.