ABSTRACT

The rising cost of running business organizations in Nigeria and the lack of basic infrastructure, as well as divergent views in the literature regarding the type ofrelationship that exists between CSRC and return on asset have necessitated this paper that examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility cost and profitability in the Nigerian banking industry using First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Pic as a study. Annual reports formed the secondary source of data collection where the CSRC and profit after tax for the period of 2011-2015 was used for the computational experiment. The data collected for this study were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The hypothesis formulated was tested. The results ofthe regression analysis as showed the impact of corporate social responsibility cost on profitability in Nigeria banks which revealed (Beta=0.929). This means that for every unit change increment in the CSRC will lead to .increase in the profit after tax ofthe company. The R-square was 0.863 which shows that CSRC accounted for the variation in the profit after tax of First Bank Pic. The study concluded that there is positive relationship between banks CSRC activities and profitability. The implications ofthis study include the need for banks to demonstrate high level of commitment to corporate social responsibility cost based on stakeholder theory in order to enhance their profitability in the long run.