Human Capital Accounting, Intellectual Capital Disclosure, and Long-Run Performance in Nigerian Knowledge-Intensive Firms

This study investigates the relationship among human capital accounting, intellectual capital disclosure quality, and long-run financial performance in Nigerian knowledge-intensive firms, contributing to the intellectual capital accounting literature from an underrepresented African emerging market perspective. The information economy is increasing the strategic importance of human and intellectual capital as drivers of sustainable competitive advantage. However, conventional accounting frameworks largely fail to capture these intangible assets, leaving significant value unreported in financial statements. In Nigeria's growing technology, telecommunications, and professional services sectors, this reporting gap may misrepresent firm value to investors and distort resource allocation. This study uses a 12-year longitudinal dataset from 35 knowledge-intensive firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group from 2012 to 2023. Human capital accounting is assessed through voluntary human capital disclosure extent and quality, including training investment, staff productivity metrics, and talent retention rates. Intellectual capital is measured using the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model adapted for the Nigerian context. Long-run performance is assessed using cumulative abnormal returns, sustainable growth rate, and innovation output proxies. Vector autoregression and dynamic panel GMM estimation are employed to capture lead-lag relationships. Results establish that intellectual capital disclosure quality significantly predicts long-run performance with a two-to-three year lag. VAIC is significantly and positively associated with market valuation, with human capital efficiency carrying the largest weight. The study contributes an original Nigerian intellectual capital-performance model and recommends mandatory human capital reporting standards for knowledge-intensive listed companies.

Keywords: human capital accounting, intellectual capital, VAIC, knowledge-intensive firms, Nigerian Exchange Group.