Aggressive Earnings Management and Shareholders Interest in Profit Listed Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

Good performance enhances shareholders interest as they provide essential capital, governance and long-term stability in anticipation of financial returns. Shareholders interest protection ensures the business capacity to fund operations, manage risks and maintain accountability and quality financial reports. Shareholders are concerned with their investment and the profitability of companies to yield maximum returns on their investment through dividends, capital appreciation and sustainable firm value. Evidence from research showed that poor profitability and poor quality of financial reports affected shareholders’ confidence and interests in listed companies especially listed oil and gas companies. Literature has revealed that not many listed oil and gas companies integrated aggressive earnings management in their operations in order to attract shareholder’s interest.  This study examined the effect of aggressive earnings management on shareholders’ interest on profitability of listed oil and gas companies for the period between 2015 -2024. Using the purposeful sampling techniques, the population of the study comprise of 14 listed oil and gas companies, using the purposeful sampling techniques, a sample eight companies were sampled for the study. The study found that discretionary accrual had positive and significant effect on shareholders’ interest in profitability of the sampled firms with the coefficient 0.1824 and p-value 0.009 while auditors’ independent had insignificant effect with coefficient -0.9286 and p-value 0.380 at 5% level of significant. The study concluded that discretionary accrual affected shareholders interest in oil and gas companies. In this, company with high discretionary accruals may attract regulatory attention, potentially leading to increased oversight and enforcement actions. The study recommended that management should ensure that the interest of shareholders is secured while ensuring transparency in financial reporting of quoted oil and gas companies.