The Relationship between Human Resource Performance Ratios and Financial Performance of Nigerian Firms

Abstract

In order to function properly organizations utilize resources, this can either be from internal or external sources. In most organisations, human resource forms one of the key internal resources available to the management (Pandurangarao, Basha & Rajasekhar, 2013). In today’s highly competitive and globalised knowledge era, human resource has been considered as the most important asset in any organization (Huui, 2012; Maindargi, 2012).  No company can exist without its employees (Huui, 2012) and presently stakeholders demand the valuation, recording and fair disclosure of human resource information in financial statements (Islam, Kamruzzaman & Redwanuzzaman, 2013), which is considered relevant to a variety of decisions made by external and internal users. Approaches to human resource accounting were first developed in the United States of America in the year 1691. Research into true human resource accounting began in the year 1960s by Rensis Likert. The main objective of human resource accounting is to facilitate the effective and efficient management of human resources. Human resource accounting was originally defined as the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating information about human resources to facilitate effective management within an organization (Kirfi & Abdullahi, 2012). The treatment of investment in people as assets can be attributed to two major reasons: first, present and potential investors need such information to help assess the value of a business enterprise; and second, investments in people satisfy the criteria for treatment as an asset (Akintoye, 2012). HRA  can  be  considered  both  an  internal  and  an  external discipline: internal  as  a  management  tool;  external  as a reporting  tool (Kirfi & Abdullahi, 2012).