The rising societal pressure on corporations to manipulate results and maximize shareholder income has prompted the government to create social measures to limit such temptations. This research looked at how listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria managed their actual and accrual profits in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR). The population of this ex post facto study consisted of 21 consumer products companies that were listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group as of December 2022. All 21 businesses were chosen for the sample size using the census sampling approach, which covered the years 2012–2022. Descriptive statistics and panel-corrected standard errors regression analysis were used to evaluate the data, which were gathered from secondary sources, particularly the annual reports of the companies. Findings showed that among Nigerian listed consumer goods companies, real earnings management was positively and significantly impacted by contributions (coef. = 0.1672, P < 0.05) and customer relations (coef. = 0.1161, P < 0.01). Additionally, the results showed that accrual earnings management was negatively but significantly impacted by contributions (coef. = −0.0396, P < 0.05) and environmental responsibility (coef. = 0.0589, P < 0.05). The analysis comes to the conclusion that CSR has a significant influence on both accrual and actual earnings management. Given the findings, it is recommended that government agencies and regulatory authorities establish rules for CSR contributions from consumer goods businesses to prevent the misuse and manipulation of profit-sharing programs. Businesses should aggressively fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments in order to enhance communication with all stakeholders, particularly the host community and the environment. This commitment helps to create a good work atmosphere and reduces the likelihood of earnings manipulation.