scholarly journals Corporate environmental reporting practices in Finland: A review and agenda for future research

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-1) ◽  
pp. 260-267
Author(s):  
Probal Dutta

The research in the area of corporate environmental accounting and reporting in the context of Finland is scarce. This paper outlines the studies conducted to date on Finnish firms’ environmental reporting practices with a view to discovering research gaps in the literature concerning environmental accounting and reporting in the Finnish context. The paper adds to the existing literature by identifying research gaps such as the antiquity of datasets used in the previous studies, the risk of failure to generalize the findings of the prior investigations and most importantly the research negligence towards the impact of Finnish firms’ activities and operations on climate change and changes in biodiversity. Hence, the paper has implications for researchers, who could address the identified void in future research and thereby advance further the literature concerned with environmental accounting and reporting. Policy makers could also benefit from this paper as its findings could help them formulate necessary disclosure requirements for the improvement of corporate environmental reporting practices in Finland. This paper focused only on the studies on Finnish firms and thereby limited the scope for any comparison between Finland and other Nordic countries as far as research on environmental reporting practices is concerned; this is the principal limitation of this study.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floriana Fusco ◽  
Paolo Ricci

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the state of the art in social and environmental accounting research applied to the public sector, highlighting different streams and the main gaps in current literature and providing input for future research.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric method was used to analyse the characteristics, citation patterns and content of 38 papers published in international academic journals.FindingsThe findings show that the research on social and environmental reporting in the public sector is still at an early stage. Current investigations, although slowly on the increase, are still very few and localised. Most papers are about the reasons why public organisations report, what and how they report, but there are so many aspects that need to be investigated more in-depth or require extra validation in order to open new directions for future research, among which the relationship with and the differences between other non-financial type of reporting, namely ICR and IR.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows some limitations, mainly related to the adoption of the bibliometric method. Indeed, it does not take into account books and chapters but only papers published in international and academic journals. This leads to exclude a significant part of the existing literature and other relevant contributions on the field.Originality/valueSocial and environmental reporting practices are quickly spreading in the public sector. The field is particularly interesting, given the specific connotations of this kind of organisations. However, the literature is clearly not exhaustive and there is not a comprehensive and systematic review of the state of the art on the subject.


2018 ◽  
pp. 971-993
Author(s):  
Sara L. Parker ◽  
Kay Standing

This chapter discusses the complexity and challenges of exploring the impact of gender on women's ability to realise their potential in Nepal. It demonstrates the limitations of using binary divisions to exploring ‘gender' as a key factor that impacts upon women's lives. By analysing interviews with ‘inspirational' women in Nepal conducted between 2009 and 2012 the chapter highlights the importance of exploring intersectional factors that also influenced women's life experiences. Based on interviews with 34 ‘inspirational' women in Nepal the chapter explores how the term ‘inspirational' is defines and discusses the range of work being done by so many women in Nepal that is truly inspiring. Through a discourse analysis of their stories of childhood and education we can see what key factors have played a role in enabling these women to realise their potential and to overcome intersectional barriers to work in a range of diverse positions, from the first female District Development Officer to the first women to gain her doctorate from overseas, to women who have set up NGOS working towards a more equitable and just society to others who have set up their own businesses or becoming leading academics. The conclusion draws together some key recommendations for future research and policy makers as well as those seeking to promote more equitable sustainable development that truly includes women in the process as autonomous, heterogeneous actors in the development process


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 909-927
Author(s):  
Randa Diab-Bahman ◽  
Abrar Al-Enzi

PurposeTo give insight into human resource (HR) policy makers of the impact of the abrupt change in working conditions as reported from their primary stakeholders – the employees.Design/methodology/approachReported from a first-person point of view, 192 employees from Kuwait who are currently working from home were surveyed as to how the lockdown circumstances have impacted their conventional work expectations. The study compares the old working conditions (OWC) to the current working conditions (CWC) to give insight into the overall sentiments of the abrupt changes to the workplace.FindingsIt was found that most employees agreed that OWC need to be reviewed, and that the general sentiment was almost equally split on the efficiency of CWC in comparison to OWC, yet the majority was enjoying the flexible conditions. Moreover, the majority of respondents found that overall conventional work elements either remained the same or had been impacted positively rather than negatively. Also, if given an option of a hybrid model inclusive of partly working remotely and partly working on-site, a considerable majority reported that they are able to efficiently conduct atleast 80% of their work expectation. Finally, it was found that employee expectation is changing as they consider post COVID-19 conditions.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was conducted using virtual crowd-sourcing methods to administer the survey and may have been enhanced should other methods have been integrated for data gathering. Also, a more comprehensive phenomenological approach could have been incorporated to add a qualitative method to the investigation. This could have freed the results of answer limitation and experience bias. Moreover, it is good practice to involve both quantitative and qualitative elements to any research when possible. Finally, future research can benefit from a bigger pool of participants so as to gain a clearer picture.Originality/valueThis research will give policy makers a look at what needs to be reviewed/changed for a successful roll-out of remote work in accordance with their original strategies.


2020 ◽  
pp. injuryprev-2019-043534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Aldred ◽  
Rob Johnson ◽  
Christopher Jackson ◽  
James Woodcock

BackgroundMost analysis of road injuries examines the risk experienced by people using different modes of transport, for instance, pedestrian fatalities per-head or per-km. A small but growing field analyses the impact that the use of different transport modes has on other road users, for instance, injuries to others per-km driven.MethodsThis paper moves the analysis of risk posed to others forward by comparing six different vehicular modes, separating road types (major vs minor roads in urban vs rural settings). The comparison of risk posed by men and women for all these modes is also novel.ResultsPer-vehicle kilometre, buses and lorries pose much the highest risk to others, while cycles pose the lowest. Motorcycles pose a substantially higher per-km risk to others than cars. The fatality risk posed by cars or vans to ORUs per km is higher in rural areas. Risk posed is generally higher on major roads, although not in the case of lorries, suggesting a link to higher speeds. Men pose higher per-km risk to others than women for all modes except buses, as well as being over-represented among users of the most dangerous vehicles.ConclusionsFuture research should examine more settings, adjust for spatial and temporal confounders, or examine how infrastructure or route characteristics affect risk posed to others. Although for most victims the other vehicle involved is a car, results suggest policy-makers should also seek to reduce disproportionate risks posed by the more dangerous vehicles, for instance, by discouraging motorcycling. Finally, given higher risk posed to others by men across five of six modes analysed, policy-makers should consider how to reduce persistent large gender imbalances in jobs involving driving.


Organizacija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 346-361
Author(s):  
Marko Kukanja ◽  
Tanja Planinc ◽  
Marijana Sikošek

AbstractBackground and purpose: This study examines crisis management practices (CMPs) for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of tourism during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The purpose of this study is to analyse how tourism SMEs reacted to the crisis caused by the pandemic. The present research aims to determine which operational CMPs were deployed by tourism SMEs to minimize the impact of the crisis.Design/Methodology/Approach: This study focuses on the following types of tourism SMEs – lodging facilities, food and beverage (F&B) facilities, and tourist agencies (TA). A total of 574 valid online questionnaires were obtained from SME managers. The structured questionnaire included 27 CMPs belonging to the four dimensions of crisis management – workforce, cost control, organizational support and marketing CMPs. Exploratory factor analysis and the non-parametric Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to investigate SMEs response to the crisis.Results: Results indicate that SMEs primarily focus on the following CMP dimensions (respectively): workforce, cost control, organizational support, and promotional and customer-related marketing practices. Results show that there are statistically significant differences in the usage of different CMPs among the different types of SMEs.Conclusion: The use of selected variables enables an internationally comparable benchmarking process and facilitates the improvement of tourism SMEs crisis management. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research and useful information for scholars, policy makers, and tourism managers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 250-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nermeen Shehata

The paper focuses on one homogeneous group of countries in the Middle East North Africa Region, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which provides an opportunity to better understand the environment and context, and help shape future research. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of three factors affecting corporate disclosure practices in the GCC countries including: economy, capital markets, and laws and enforcement mechanisms. Several recommendations that would help improve disclosure and financial reporting practices in the GCC are presented. Accounting researchers, especially those with interests in disclosure and financial reporting issues, should take into account the impact of the previous factors while designing their empirical research and reporting its findings


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianxi Zhang ◽  
Simon S. Gao ◽  
Jane J. Zhang

While the literature has given a considerable attention to internet financial reporting, limited studies mainly from developed economies have emerged to explain and predict corporate behavior relating to corporaten environmental reporting on Websites. This preliminary study attempts<br />to fill a gap by investigating Internet environmental reporting (IER)<br />in China and examining the current IER practice of Chinese top listed companies. This study finds that IER is increasingly used in China to disclose corporate social and environmental activity and policy. Companies are increasingly using the phrases of „sustainability‟ and „corporate social responsibility‟ in their IER. Website-specific reporting concerning social and environmental issues, performance and activities has growingly been adopted by Chinese top listed companies as the main approach to IER. Both the quantity of disclosure and the areas of coverage have steadily<br />increased. While IER in China is developing, there remains a considerable discrepancy in terms of reporting practices and the levels of social and environmental information disclosed. There are no generally accepted standards and guidelines for IER in China, and the data/information disclosed are largely incomparable. External auditing of IER remains a problem.<br /><br />


Author(s):  
Raudah Siman ◽  
Rina Fadhilah Ismail ◽  
Zanariah Aziz@ Omar ◽  
Zuraidahq Mohd Zam

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in the plantation industry in Malaysia. The relationship between board characteristics and the extent of environmental reporting by listed firms in Malaysia plantation industry is examined for the first three years after the issuance of the new revised Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance in 2012 (MCCG 2012). Three board characteristics have been used to explain the level of environmental reporting by Malaysia’s plantation industry firms. The correlation analysis is employed to investigate the relationship between the board characteristics and environmental reporting. This study employs a content analysis method by reviewing 110 annual reports consisting of 37 firms listed in Bursa Malaysia for three years (2013-2015). The result reports that most of the board characteristics are not significantly related to environmental reporting by the firms. Out of six measurements, only the environmental related expenses have a positive relationship with environmental reporting. The results from this study may provide knowledge and empirical understanding concerning the environmental reporting practices by the plantation industry. The policy makers and regulatory bodies such as Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission may consider formulating guidelines for reporting environmental information to encourage voluntary compliance.


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