Liquidity Management and Corporate Sustainability of listed Oil and Gas Companies: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria (Published)
Investors had watched the fragile state of corporate sustainability of the oil and gas companies, as huge capital investments had been lost due to the unpredictable nature of prices occasioned by the unstable foreign exchange rate. Studies have shown that profitability, assets growth and economic value added expectations of investors rely on skillful and efficient management of the companies’ resources especially, liquidity management, which were considered inadequate. Consequently, the study investigated the effect of liquidity management on corporate sustainability of the oil and gas companies in Nigeria.The study explored ex-post facto research design. The population consisted of 13 listed oil and gas companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 31st December 2017. Ten oil and gas companies were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data were extracted from published financial statements of the sampled companies, while the validity and reliability of the data were premised on the scrutiny and certification by the external auditors. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used for the data analysis.The study revealed that corporate sustainability of quoted oil and gas companies in Nigerian was significantly affected by liquidity management. Results showed that liquidity management had a positive significant effect on profitability, F-Statistics (4, 95) = 3.493; AdjR2 = 0.092; P-value = 0.010; while liquidity management also exhibited a positive significant effect on assets growth, F-Statistics (4, 95) = 0.3.030; AdjR2 = 0.076; P-value= 0.021. Also, liquidity management exhibited a positive significant impact on economic value added. F-Statistics (4, 95) = 2.598; AdjR2 = 0.054; P-value = 0.035. When the control variable was introduced, the results revealed that liquidity management had a positive significant effect on profitability, F-Statistics (5, 94) = 3.020; AdjR2 = 0.093; P-value = 0.014; while liquidity management also exhibited a positive significant effect on assets growth, F-Statistics (5, 94) = 2.488; AdjR2 = 0.070; P-value= 0.037. Also, liquidity management exhibited a positive significant impact on economic value added. F-Statistics (5, 94) = 4.683; AdjR2 = 0.159; P-value = 0.001.The study concluded that liquidity management affected corporate sustainability of quoted oil and gas companies in Nigerian. The study recommended that shareholders, managers, policy makers, financial regulators and market participants should be mindful of companies’ liquidity management and time lag between credit sales and collection of receivables as critical to the corporate sustainability companies. Managers should revisit cash conversion cycle policy time-lag, and ensure effective resource management because of their importance to corporate sustainability.
Keywords: Liquidity Management, Quick Ratio, assets growth, cash conversion, corporate sustainability, economic value added