KAIZEN COSTING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED FOOD PRODUCT MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA.

Abstract

In recent years, the cost of doing business in Nigeria has been very expensive. This has equally affected cost of raw materials and production cost of manufacturing firms. Consequently, entities are obliged to find the management system, which allows them to be competitive and efficient in using the resources at the lowest costs possible. Thus, the study “examined kaizen costing and financial performance of listed food product manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The specific objectives examined the relationship between kaizen costing and return on asset of listed food products manufacturing companies in Nigeria and also evaluated the relationship between kaizen costing and return on equity of listed food products manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study adopted triangulation and correlational research design. The target population for the study is nine (9) listed food products manufacturing companies on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as at 31 August 2021.  The unit of respondent of the study were three hundred and thirty-six (336) knowledgeable and competent staff within the production, marketing and finance departments of the nine (9) listedfood products manufacturing companies. The sample size was therefore determined by using the Taro-Yame sampling techniques to be 183. The instrument of the study is triangulation (primary data and secondary data). The formulated research questions were analyzed with descriptive statistics. The hypotheses were tested using the multiple regression analysis with the aid of E-view (10). The findings of the study were that: there is an insignificant relationship between kaizen costing (KAC) and return on asset (ROA) of listed food products manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Also, there is a significant relationship between kaizen costing (KAC) and return on equity (ROE) of listed food products manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study recommends that more accountants, production managers and top managers should learn from the kaizen costing training institutes in Nigeria where they offer training and knowledge about Kaizen costing system and how to adopt and use the same to the benefit of the company. The study further recommended that to determine the actual performance of the Kaizen system, organizations should bridge the bureaucratic barriers and allow the top management to interact freely with the lower hierarchy members of the organization and build a proper rapport to enhance effective communication, efficient development of ideas, proper adoption of generated ideas and avoid dismissing the simple little ideas given by the junior staff about improvement of the organization.