scholarly journals Environmental sustainability disclosure and accounting conservatism

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Pereira et al. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Accounting Conservatism ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Voluntary Reporting ◽  
Conservative Accounting ◽  
Conditional Conservatism ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure

In this article, we analyzed whether the level of accounting conservatism of a firm is affected by its environmental sustainability information disclosure. For that purpose, we developed two Environmental Disclosure Indices (EDI), one obtained from the mandatory reporting (annual report) and the other from the voluntary reporting (sustainability report), and compared the effects on conditional conservatism. Content analysis was used to develop two indices to evaluate the level of environmental disclosures. Moreover, the technique of multiple linear regression, using panel data, was applied to provide original empirical evidence for Portuguese companies listed on the stock exchange. We found evidence that higher environmental sustainability information disclosure enhances the conservative accounting practice, which is consistent with the argument that a higher level of Corporate Social Responsibility tends to increase financial statements transparency. In addition, we found that environmental information disclosed in specific and voluntary reporting has a superior impact on the level of conditional conservatism. These results showed that managers tend to engage in earnings management activities by being more accounting conservative in order to meet shareholders' expectations and disclose higher levels of environmental information. Therefore, this article brings some insights to the debate about the usefulness of accounting conservatism and the contribution of sustainability goals to monitor and guide managers’ activities.

scholarly journals Analyst Following, Environmental Disclosure and Cost of Equity: Research Based on Industry Classification

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Yao ◽  
Haotian Liang
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Cost Of Equity ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Analyst Following ◽  
Environmental Information Disclosure ◽  
The Cost

Prior studies argue that an analyst is an important mediator between a firm and investors, and has a significant influence on the cost of equity. However, how analyst following influences the cost of equity has not been studied in depth. In the Chinese setting, where environmental information has attracted much attention, we explore the interaction among analyst following, environmental information disclosure, and cost of equity. With two linear regression methods of ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-Stage least squares (2SLS), we establish regressions to verify the relationships among them by using empirical data from 2004 to 2011 in China. The results show that analyst following can improve environmental information disclosure and lower the cost of equity. This interaction is more significant in the heavy-pollution industry and after new environmental policy is issued. We also find that environmental disclosure has a mediating effect, which determines how analyst following influences the cost of equity. The results expand the research on environmental information’s motivations and economic consequences.

scholarly journals Sustainability Reporting by Firms in the Nigerian Economy: Social versus Environmental Disclosure

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alhassan Haladu ◽  
Basariah Bt. Salim
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting ◽  
The Impact

Purpose: There is need for specialization on individual categories of sustainability information disclosure.  An attempt has been made in this study to make a comparison between the environmental and social categories of sustainability disclosure. Methodology: Guided by the G4 sustainability reporting guidelines, environmentally sensitive companies in the Nigerian economy were analyzed for 6 years (2009-2014).  Separate assessments and comparisons were made between environmental reporting and social reporting on the impact, influence and significance of their relationships using Stata13SE analytical tool. Findings: The results shows that firms performed better on social reporting than on environmental reporting in terms of higher sustainability disclosure rates and significant relationships. Research Implications: The current trend of reporting sustainability information disclosure under both social and environmental reporting is encouraging considering the fact that disclosure on sustainability issues in Nigeria is voluntary. Practical Implications: Firms in environmentally sensitive sectors are disclosing sustainability information than expected. Originality/Value: The uniqueness in comparing sustainability disclosures between environmental information and social information.

scholarly journals Quality assessment model of environmental information disclosure

2014 ◽  
pp. 76-87
Author(s):  
Inga Karlonaitė ◽  
Kristina Rudžionienė
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Information Disclosure ◽  
Increasing Demand

In last decades, environmental issues: pollution, climate change, sing of non-renewable resources, has influenced the economic value of nature and the protection of the environment has become an important goal for institutions and corporations. Increasing concern to environmental problems causes increasing demand for environmental disclosure of environmental related information. Responding to the increasing demand for such type of information, interest of environmental accounting and reporting is growing too. It is especially needed for the disclosed information to be useful and in high quality. Purpose of this work –prepare and adjust quality assessment model of environmental information disclosure. Case study indicates that this model is suitable for Baltic countries companies. Companies mostly disclose information about environmental costs, waste, pollution, programs, projects or activities in social life and regulations they follow. Lithuanian companies are most improved in this area, because 93,75% of companies discloses that information in financial reports, separate reports or internet pages.

scholarly journals The Effects of Environmental Performance and Environmental Information Disclosure on Financial Performance in Companies Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 67-77
Author(s):  
Mikial Msy
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Information Disclosure ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Sustainability Report

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of environmental performance and environmental information disclosure on financial performance in companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population in this study amounted to 20 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, issued an Annual Report and Sustainability Report and included in the Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The data used in the form of secondary data obtained from annual reports and sustainability reports of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2016. The numbers of observations in this study were 80. The analysis technique used was Partial Least Square (PLS). The novelty in this study is to measure environmental performance based on outcomes, namely environmental costs incurred by the company rather than compliance with regulations. The cost of a well-managed environment will improve environmental performance because there are efficient use of resources. The results of this study indicate that eenvironmental performance has no significant effect on financial performance, environmental information disclosure has a significant effect on financial performance. Disclosure of environmental information has a negative effect on financial performance, it shows that if the disclosure of environmental information is more equipped and in accordance with the disclosure guidelines, the cost is not small so that it will reduce financial performance. Research limitation that environmental costs is difficult to obtain so that the population is limited to companies listed on the IDX that have a Sustainability Report and are included in the Sustainability Disclosure Database of the Global Reporting Initiative. Disclosure of environmental information which is the result of the implementation environmental management accounting has not been done by all companies, because it is still voluntary is not mandatory. The suggestion of the research, the Indonesian Accountants Association is expected to form separate standards for measuring and reporting environmental cost information and standardized. For other researchers who are interested in researching environmental accounting can develop other variables for a longer time and the number of companies that publish more Sustainability Reporting.

Does policy uncertainty affect corporate environmental information disclosure: evidence from China

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 903-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Pan ◽  
Qiuping Chen ◽  
Pengdong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Appraisal System ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmental Information Disclosure ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how policy uncertainty affect corporate environmental information disclosure. Design/methodology/approach This study conducts a difference-in-difference estimation and systematically investigates the relationship between policy uncertainty and corporate environmental information disclosure. The baseline regression results are robust to a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Findings The authors show that firms located in cities with stronger policy uncertainty disclose less information on environmental issues. Furthermore, this negative relationship is stronger in the Midwest and in pre-industrial regions and for stated-owned firms and firms in highly polluting industries. Practical implications This study argues that policy uncertainty reduce the corporate disclosure of environmental information. Therefore, the results provide evidence on how to better emphasize the importance of green gross domestic product in the performance appraisal system for officials. Social implications This study confirms that corporate environmental disclosure is a response to public pressure. The results encourage the government and the public to increase corporate awareness of environmental protection. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature in the following ways. First, the authors provide a new perspective to study the relationship between policy uncertainty and corporate finance. Second, it contributes to the literature on corporate environmental information disclosure by linking policy uncertainty with firms’ disclosure of environmental information. Third, this study is a serious attempt to solve the problem of endogeneity between policy uncertainty and corporate environmental information disclosure.

scholarly journals Determinants of Environmental Disclosure in Thai Corporate Annual Reports

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muttanachai Suttipun ◽  
Patricia Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Industry Group ◽  
Common Location ◽  
Simple Sampling

This study investigated the extent and content of environmental information disclosure provided in the annual reports of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), and tested whether there were any relationships between the amount of environmental disclosure and a number of company characteristics used in previous studies conducted in more developed countries. By using a simple sampling method, 75 listed companies were selected for inclusion in the study based on their 2007 annual reports. The findings indicate that 62 companies (83%) provided environmental information in their annual reports. Companies in the resources industry group made the most disclosure of environmental information, while the least disclosure was made by companies in the agricultural and food industries group. The most common location of environmental reporting in annual reports was under the topic of corporate governance. The most common themes of disclosures were environmental policy, environmental activities, and waste management. There was a positive relationship between the amount of environmental disclosures and size of company.

Sustainability Reporting

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-117
Author(s):  
Dana Maria (Oprea) Constantin ◽  
Dan Ioan Topor ◽  
Sorinel Căpușneanu ◽  
Alexandru Lucian Manole
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Presentation Format ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
The Impact

This chapter presents, in a descriptive manner, the interrelation of the sustainability reporting concepts and the sustainability disclosure through internal and external stakeholders. The main objectives of this chapter are approaching the disclosure of environmental information, presenting the views of the stakeholders on the content and format of environmental reporting. The factors underlying the disclosure of the environmental information and the impact of these, including the views stakeholders on the content and presentation format of the environmental reporting, are presented and analyzed. A case study is also presented in order to highlight the disclosure and presentation of the environmental report of an industrial entity and the importance of the accounting information provided. This chapter brings a theoretical contribution to expand the knowledge on the environmental disclosure and reporting approaches. The authors' approaches remain open to the expansion of these issues at both national and international level and both in the academia and business area.

Global financial crisis and relevance of GRI disclosure in Italy. Insights from the stakeholder theory and the legitimacy theory

2018 ◽  
pp. 67-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Fornaciari ◽  
Caterina Pesci
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Environmental Disclosure

In this study, we examine the effects of voluntary disclosure on the market value of Italian-listed companies adopting GRI guidelines, interpreting our results in the light of both stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory. From a methodological viewpoint, an index is used to measure the level of disclosure of human resources and environmental information. We consider a sample of firms listed on the Milan Stock Exchange for an eleven-year period (2004-2014). The period chosen gave us the opportunity to assess the value-relevance of environmental and social information before and during the Global Financial Crisis. We supplement the previous literature on the topic of the relationship between social and environmental disclosure and value-relevance by arguing that sustainability tools have to be evaluated, remembering that they express a notion of value in the long term and provide information to a large number of stakeholders. Our findings show that environmental information is only value-relevant during the crisis period, when the shareholder perspective comes more into line with other stakeholder perspectives because they are seeking a middle-to-long run notion of value. Finally, we find that a high level of GRI information disclosure is positively evaluated by investors; this result is important also because it was obtained in the Italian market which is largely considered inefficient, and thus it supports the urgent need to provide high-quality information in each type of market.

scholarly journals The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure Quality on Loan Scale for Enterprises in China’s Heavy Polluting Industries

2021 ◽  
Vol 261 ◽  
pp. 04018
Author(s):  
Jianfei Shen ◽  
Yidan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Bank Loans ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Bank Loan ◽  
Disclosure Quality ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Information Disclosure ◽  
The Impact

In view of the importance of environmental accounting to ecological governance, this article attempts to study the economic consequences of environmental information disclosure quality (EID) from the perspective of bank financing. We assume that good environmental information disclosure quality can help companies obtain bank loan, and then test this conjecture through empirical methods. The data of 330 listed companies in China’s heavy polluting industries were collected, and then analysed by SPSS for regression. The result shows that EID is positively related to the scale of corporate bank loan, which means the improvement of EID can bring convenience when companies need bank loans. The research clarifies the financial consequences of EID and provides some enlightenment for the improvement of corporate environmental disclosure quality.

scholarly journals Public and Private Sector Environmental Reporting

2017 ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Verónica Paula Lima Ribeiro ◽  
Sónia Maria da Silva Monteiro
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public And Private Sector

The organisation's interest in producing an image of commitment towards the environment has motivated the development of new informational needs by the different stakeholders. Their satisfaction requires that the organization's traditional information systems change. This happens in both public and private organizations, in order to generate environmental information, not only for management purposes, but also for external disclosure. In this sense, the contents and display of the information produced by these systems must also adapt, receiving new information besides the traditional one [for example, the annual reports], including the ad hoc information, environmental report and/or sustainability report. The literature highlights that there is no consensual opinion among researchers about mandatory or voluntary reporting. In the private sector, the accounting regulations of environmental issues, specifically in what concerns the environmental information disclosure in the annual reports, presents a certain degree of development, with several initiatives, both national and international, concerning the approval of an environmental accounting standard. Nevertheless, in the public sector, the delay of specific accounting standards concerning environmental information has led public entities not to submit suitable information about their environmental management. The aim of this paper is to present the state of the art, both in public and private sector contexts, according to national and international legislation, in the annual reports or separately. A further objective, in addition, is to present a short reflection on the subject of mandatory and voluntary environmental disclosure.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document