Accounting Information and Dividend Pay-Out in Nigerian Listed Oil and Gas Firms

Dividend pay-out policy plays an important role in firm’s decision to determine the amount to be declared as dividend. The study aim to analyse the impact of accounting information on the dividend pay-out of listed oil and gas firms in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study employs the use of secondary data obtained from annual reports and accounts. The population of the study is ten oil and gas firms listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange, the sample of the study ten oil and gas firms and the period covered by the study is from 2015-2019. The data is panel in nature and regression was used to analyse the data. The result shows profitability is having a positive and significant relationship on dividend pay-out of the listed oil and gas firm in Nigeria. Whereas, liquidity revealed a negative and insignificant relationship. On the other hand, firm size was found to be negative and significant influence on the listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. Finally, a positive and insignificant relation was found respectively. This implies that individual investor who prefers high dividend should invest on profitable company, while management should announce the dividend after considering their profit. Also, Investors who are trying to predict future dividends will therefore need to get some relevance and useful information on the firm to invest in. Furthermore, Managers may also use the study when determining the dividend pay-out since they will be given relevance information for decision making.