Intangibles Accounting Estimates and Performance of Listed Financial Sector Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between intangible assets and financial performance of listed firms in Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to determine the extent estimates of intangible assets have influenced the firms‘ return on assets, return on equity, and earnings per share, using the Least fixed effect panel regression model. Data was collected from the published annual financial statements of 20 financial firms – 10 banks and 10 insurance companies – for the period from 2013 to 2023. The results reveal that intangibles estimate exert a significant positive influence on all the performance proxies of the selected banks and insurance companies. We conclude that intangible assets estimates have a substantial impact on firm performance. Thus, the study recommends that the management of banks and insurance companies should ensure that efforts are geared towards maintaining and improving on their intangible assets. Again, it was recommended that bank management, without compromising the quality of service delivery, should ensure that they do not over invest in information technology as such investments may only increase operational costs; which may lead to a decline in profitability.

Keywords

• Intangible assets
• accounting estimates
• firm performance
• return on assets
• return on equity
• earnings per share

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