ABSTRACT

The study examined the effect ofcorporate social responsibility cost on value of listed firms in Nigeria, the specific objectives were to examine the impact of community development expenditure, environmental expenditure and employee relation expenditui e on market value and economic value, the study adopted ex post facto i eseai ch design and extracted data from cross section of manufacturingfirms over a period 5 years. Community development expenditure, environmental expenditure and employee relation expenditure were jointly used as proxiesfor corporate social responsibility cost. Based on the nature ofdata extracted, the panel least squares method of data analysis was used to analyze the relationship of the variables. It was found that corporate social responsibility cost has significant effect on both market value and economic value. The study therefore concludes that corporate social responsibility cost significantly affects value oflisted firms and recommends that Corporate firms should design a policyframework that will gear their effort into increasing their commitment to social responsibility practices, such as entrepreneurial projects, community projects and environmental protection projects, in order to enhance cordial relationship with the inhabitants ofthe society, firms are encouraged to be proactive in the approach ofsocial responsibilitypractices, they should have a clear understanding ofprojects to be involved in, rather than compromising their core business goals to investing in projects that will drain or reduce their resources