Abstract

<p>This study was undertaken to examine corporate size and the return on equity of quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The general purpose was to determine the effect of various measures of firms’ size and on the return on equity of quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms. Secondary data obtained from 15 quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms covering the period 2013 – 2012. Return on equity was modeled as the function of total assets ratio, size of leverage, investment size and sales size. Panel data methodology was employed while the fixed effects model was used as estimation technique at 5% level of significance. Fixed effects, random effects and pooled estimates were tested while the Hausman test was used to determine the best fit. The study found that 62 percent variation on return on equity can be traced to firm size in this study; this implies that 38 percent can be traced to internal factors not captured in the model. The f- statistics and probability confirms that the model is significant and can predict the variation on the dependent variable. The Durbin Watson statistics proved that there is no presence of serial autocorrelation among the variables. Beta coefficient of the variables indicates that total assets ratio have negative and no significant effect on return on equity of the quoted firms while other variables in the model have positive and no significant effect on the dependent variable. From the findings, the study conclude that firm size have moderate effect on the return on equity of the quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms. The study recommends that management should ensure optimal size to enhance return on equity of the quoted firms</p>