THE NEXUS BETWEEN CORPORATE FINANCIAL CAPITAL EFFICIENCY AND FIRM GROWTH OF NIGERIA’S LISTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Abstract
There is a divergence of opinion among accounting researchers about the nexus between CFC efficiency and firm growth. Additionally, several manufacturing firms in Nigeria are folding up. This study examined the nexus between corporate financial capital efficiency and firm growth of Nigerian listed manufacturing firms. Using a robust pooled OLS regression model for a sample of 75 firm-year observations from 2019 to 2023, with judgmental sampling, secondary data were used to examine the nexus between inventory turnover efficiency (ITE) asset turnover efficiency (ATE) sales efficiency (SE) and operating expense efficiency (OEE) on firm growth. The results show a significant negative relationship between asset turnover efficiency and firm growth, sales efficiency and firm growth, and operating expense efficiency and firm growth. Conversely, an insignificant negative relationship exists between inventory turnover efficiency and firm growth. This study recommends that firms in the manufacturing sector prioritize asset turnover, sales, and operating expense efficiency through strategic asset deployment to revenue-generating activities, strategic product pricing and asset replacement techniques, cost of sales, and operating expense control measures to initiate, improve, and sustain firm growth.
Keywords:
Corporate financial capital efficiency- inventory turnover efficiency, asset turnover efficiency, sales efficiency, operating expense efficiency, and firm growth.Downloads
Published
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17190592Issue
Section
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Stella Uwazuluonye Audu

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Abdullah, M., Abdul, A. H., Yousuf, A. B., & Muhammad, S. I. (2022). Does tax aggressiveness and cost of debt affect firm performance? The moderating role of political connections, Cogent Economics & Finance, 10:1, 2132645, DOI:10.1080/23322039.2022.2132645
Abere, O., & Saka, S. (2023). The Financial Performance of Nigerian Manufacturing Firms and Risk Management Practices Cross Current Int J Agri Vet Sci, 5(3), 25-32.
Amna, M. S. A., Ali. Z., & Syed S. Z. Z. (2018). Empirical relationship between operational efficiency and profitability (evidence from Pakistan exploration sector). Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research ISSN: 2521-3830 Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 7-11 DOI: 10.20448/2002.21.7.11
Ashton, W. S., Panero, M. A., Izquierdo Cruz, C., & Martin, M. (2018). Financing Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production in Central America Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 20(1), 53-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1452-8
Atoyebi, T. A., Audu, S. U., Umar, A., Bara, F., & Muhammad, P. (2024). The moderating effect of audit quality on third-party disclosures and the financial performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. International Research Journal of Accounting, Finance and Banking.Volume.15, Number 5; September-2024; ISSN: 2836-7944 | Impact Factor: 9.83 https://zapjournals.com/Journals/index.php/irjafb
Badara, M. S. Saidin, S. Z. (2013). Antecedents of Internal Audit Effectiveness: A Moderating Effect of Effective Audit Committees at the Local Government Level in Nigeria International Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2(2), 82-88.
Baik, B., Chae, J., Choi, S., & Farber, D. B. (2013). Changes in operational efficiency and firm performance: A frontier analysis approach Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol. 30, No. 3, 996-1026
Chen, J. (2018). Growth firm. Available on investopedia.com/terms/g/growth firm on 2nd January, 2020
Dong, J. C., Zhu, L. L., Wang, B., Dong, Z., Li, X. T., 2016. Evaluation of the Financing Efficiency of China’s Stock Market Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3236897
Freshbook (2023). Business Finance: Definition and Importance
Gill, A., Singh, M., Mathur, N., & Mand, H. S. (2014). Impact of operational efficiency on the future performance of Indian manufacturing firms. International Journal of Economics and Finance, vol. 6, no. 10, pp. 259-269
Guo, L., Long, W. Y., & Dai, Z. (2021). Manufacturing R&D investment efficiency and financing constraints: Evidence from China Applied Economics, 53(6), 676-687. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1808580
Guarini, G., Laureti, T., & Garofalo, G. (2020). Socio-institutional determinants of educational resource efficiency according to the capability approach: An endogenous stochastic frontier analysis. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2020.100835.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2020.100835.
Hassan, I., & Hassan, A. T. (2023). Corporate financial problems: A case study of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. ISSN (print) 2833-2172, ISSN (online) 2833-2180 DOI: 10.58806/ijsshmr. 2023. v2i8n03 Page No. 764-767 IJSSHMR, Volume 2 Issue 08 August 2023 www.ijsshmr.com Page 764
Leung, W. S., Barwick-Barrett, M., & Evans, K. P. (2014). Resource Efficiency and Firm Value
Liu, X., X. Yu, and S. Gao. 2019. A quantitative study of low-carbon companies’ financing efficiency: A three-stage data envelopment analysis Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(5), 858-871. DOI: 10.1002/bse.2288
Liu, L., & Zhan, X. (2019). Analysis of Financing Efficiency of Chinese Agricultural Listed Companies Based on Machine Learning. Complexity, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9190273https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9190273
Ma, F., Li, J., Ma, H., & Sun, Y. (2021). Evaluation of Regional Financial Efficiency Based on the Shannon Entropy Model Procedia Comput Sci, 199, 954-961. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2022.01.120
Miko, N. U., & Para, I. (2019). Capital structure and profitability of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Journal of the Nigerian Economy. Journal of Accounting and Management ISSN 1119–2454 Volume 2, Issue 2, December 2019 Page 134-140.
Mustafa, M. O. A., & Stella, U. A. (2023). The Nexus between Human Capital Investment and Firm Growth of Selected Non-Financial Firms in Nigeria International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) ISSN No. 2454-6186 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7833 467-481
Naeem, K., & Li, M. C. (2019). Corporate investment efficiency: The role of financial development in OECD non-financial firms with financing constraints and agency issues International Review of Financial Analysis, 62, 53-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2019.01.003
Ojo, M. P., & Ayanwale, A. B. (2019). Estimating the farm-level financing gap: A technical efficiency approach Agricultural Finance Review, 79(2), 174-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/AFR-02-2018-0008
Olaoye, C. O., & Adesina, O. D. (2022). Capital Structure and Financial Performance of Nigerian Manufacturing Companies Journal of Applied and Theoretical Social Sciences, 4(4), 471-491. DOI: 10.37241/jatss.2022.78
Penrose, E. (1959). Theory of firm growth. Blackwell, B., Oxford.
Quah, H., Haman, J., & Naidu, D. (2021). Effect of stock liquidity on investment efficiency under financing constraints and asymmetric information: Evidence from the United States Accounting and Finance, 61(S1), 2109-2150. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12656
Salehi, M., Zimon, G., Arianpoor, A., & Gholezoo, F. E. (2022). Impact of Investment Efficiency on Firm Value and the Moderating Role of Institutional Ownership and Board Independence Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(4). doi: 10.3390/jrfm15040170
Sunega, P., & Lux, M. (2007). Market-based housing finance efficiency in the Czech Republic. Journal of Economics, 59, 69–79. European Journal of Housing Policy, 7(3), 241-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616710701477888
Santosuosso, P. (2014). Do efficiency ratios help investors explore firm performance? Evidence from Italian listed firms. International Business Research, vol. 7, no. 12, 111.
Tavakolan, M., & Nikoukar, S. (2022). Developing an optimization financing cost-schedluing trade-off model for construction projects. International Journal of Construction Management, 22(2), 262-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2019.1619439
Ullah, I., M. A. Majeed, H. X. Fang, and M. A. Khan. 2020. Female CEOs and investment efficiency: Evidence from an emerging economy Pacific Accounting Review, 32(4), 443-474. doi: 10.1108/PAR-08-2019-0099
Ward, C., Yin, C., & Zeng, Y. (2020). Monitoring by institutional investors and firm investment efficiency. European Financial Management, 26(2), 348-385. doi: 10.1111/eufm.12232
Warrad, L., & Al Omari, R. (2015). Impact of turnover ratios on the performance of the Jordanian services sector Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 77-85
Warue, B. N., Charles, B. J. M., & Mwania, P. M. (2018). Theories in Finance Discipline: A Literature Review Critique The University Journal, 1(2), 113-146.
Xu K, Geng C, Wei X. 2019. Research on the financing ecology and efficiency of strategic emerging industries in China. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 20(2), 311-329. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2019.9592https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2019.9592
Yang, J., Jiang, Y., Chen, H., & Gan, S. (2022). Digital finance and Chinese corporate labor investment efficiency: The financing constraints and human capital structure perspective Frontiers in Psychology, 13, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.962806
The yuan, H. (2020). Based on DEA, Equity Financing Efficiency of China’s Listed Real Estate Companies
Zhong, M. and Gao, L. (2017). Does CSR disclosure improve firm investment efficiency? Evidence from China Review of Accounting and Finance, 16(3), 348-365. doi: 10.1108/RAF-06-2016-0095
Zheng, H., Catarina, R., & Joaquim, J. S. R. (2024). Can operational efficiency in the Portuguese electricity sector be improved? Yes, but... www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol