Abstract

This study evaluated the empirical evidence of Human Capital Disclosure HCD on firm profitability in Nigeria. The study employed HCD indicators as (employee remuneration cost ERC; training/development cost TDC; retirement benefit cost RBC), as the independent variables; while the dependent variable Profitability is proxy with Return on Asset ROA. Population included all firms listed in Nigerian Stock Exchange Group NSG (2017-2021); while purposive sampling techniques selected five firms, one from each of the listed five sectors. Cross sectional and time series data was collected from the annual returns of the five listed firms from the NSG, Fact Book, 2021. The analyses methods included Descriptive Statistics, Unit Root Test, Co- integration Test, Pearson Correlations and OLS Regression. Findings indicate that: the adjusted R2 is 56.5% and these accounts for the systematic variation in the dependent variable ROA; while the remaining 43.5% are accountable by other factors outside the scope of this study. The overall finding shows that HCD is significant on ROA and this agrees with the idea of Resources Based Theory RBT; that the competitive position of a firm depends on its specific assets inputs and not duplicated assets inputs. Other, specific findings show that all the independent variables: ERC; TDC and RBC are all positive and statistically significant on ROA of the pooled sectors. The study contributes with the empirical evidences for academia and the modernized models of HCD. Recommend is that since HCD is significant, firms’ managers should start identifying, measuring and disclosing human capital. Study findings’ implications show the need for listed firms to recognize and treat human capital and disclose same as an intangible asset in published accounts.