Sustainability Accounting and Performance of Insurance Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

The focus of Sustainability accounting and performance reporting is the delivery of non-financial information about firm activities for the benefit of all the stakeholders. Insurance industry is not left out as firms in that sector are also expected to comply with the necessary disclosure requirements from the relevant standard setters such as Global reporting Initiative and the sustainability disclosure requirements of Nigerian stock exchange. The methodology consists of review of literature on firms’ disclosures to investigate the level of disclosures of sustainability practice of the Nigerian insurance firms and identify the challenges militating against the non-disclosures. Major finding indicated substantial social disclosure but less environmental disclosure globally and in Nigeria. Challenges to the sustainability reporting include lack of proper planning, insufficient resources, uncertain governance policies and lack of individual accountability. It is recommended that Insurance companies should fully adopt both the GRI based reporting guidelines and the sustainability reporting guidelines issued by the NSE on a larger scale to meet the disclosure provisions of the environmental reporting. The appointment of Chief sustainable officers by insurance companies should be reflected in Nigeria and accountability should be enforced through effective use of bookkeeping system to monitor social and environmental expenditure.