The main objective of this study was to ascertain the effect of intellectual capital on financial performance of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria; while examining the moderating role of board financial expertise. The research design adopted for this study was expost facto and secondary data were employed. The sample size of 45 listed manufacturing companies were purposively selected from the population of 52. Panel regression anlaysis was used to analyse the data sets and the statistical package employed was STATA 17. The findings of the study revealed that human capital (coef. 0.056; p-value = 0.000) has significant and positive effect on earnings per share; relational capital (coef. 0.008; p-= 0.442) has nonsignificant effect on earnings per share; Structural capital (coef. 0.012; p-=0.709) has nonsignificant effect on earnings per share; board financial expertise significantly moderates the relationship between human capital and financial performance of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Thus, it was concluded that intellectual capital significantly affects financial performance with board financial expertise strengthening this effect. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended, amongst others, that management of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria should adopt a more deliberate and strategic approach to human capital development. Also, these firms should streamline their internal processes, eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies, and prioritize flexible, innovation-driven systems that would directly contribute to value creation.
Keywords: : Human Capital, Earnings per share, Financial Performance, Intellectual Capital, Relational capital, structural capital
