Environmental disclosure on mandatory and voluntary reporting of Portuguese listed firms: the role of environmental certification, lucratively and corporate governance

Purpose This study aims to construct two environmental disclosure indices (EDI), one obtained from the mandatory reporting (annual report) and the other from the voluntary reporting (sustainability report), to compare their evolution. In addition, the authors developed and evaluated a conceptual model that aims to analyse if the two EDI are affected by industry, environmental certification, lucratively and corporate governance attributes. The legitimacy, signalling and voluntary disclosure theories are used to support the theoretical relationship between the company’s characteristics, corporate governance and environmental disclosure. Design/methodology/approach Using the content analysis technique, the authors have developed two indices to assess the level of environmental disclosure in the companies’ mandatory and voluntary reporting. In addition, to analyse the determinants of EDI, the authors applied the technique of multiple linear regression using panel data. Findings Based on Portuguese listed companies (Euronext-Lisbon), the results, from 2015 to 2017, exhibited an increase of 14.6% and 25.8% for the EDI obtained from the annual reports and for EDI obtained from the sustainability reporting, respectively. In addition, the results revealed that the environmental certification, lucratively, number of members on board and number and proportion of women of the board directors tend to affect the annual reporting EDI. Regarding the sustainability reporting EDI, the results showed that the environmental certification, lucratively and proportion of independent members of the board of directors have an impact on it. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on quantitative rather than qualitative disclosures and it brings some insights to the theoretical field. Practical implications The results obtained can assist corporate decision-making processes regarding the improvement of environmental disclosure, both on the mandatory annual report and on voluntary sustainability reports. Originality/value This study brings new perspectives to this topical issue in accounting. Originally, this study is applied to Portuguese listed companies and it shows different trends and determinants of environmental disclosure when included in the annual reporting or sustainability reporting.

SILENCE IN THE TOWER: ANALYSING THE REASONS OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AVOIDING VOLUNTARY REPORTING

Defined in the organizational behavior literature as employee avoidance of expressing their feelings, thoughts and ideas, the concept of organizational silence refers to the failure to submit reports voluntarily in the context of aviation safety. Due to various factors, aviation employees may avoid reporting. However, managers need voluntary reports from their employees to prevent future accidents. The primary purpose of this study is to find out why air traffic controllers, one of the most critical safety components of flight operation, fail to do voluntary reporting. In addition, whether controllers are involved in real-life voluntary reporting and whether the factors that prevent voluntary reporting vary by demographic variables. The data collected from 212 controllers were subjected to Confirmatory Factor Analysis by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 24 program and the reasons for their failure to do voluntary reporting were identified. Furthermore, the study concluded that approximately 27% of controllers did not submit voluntary reporting on unsafe situations or safety-enhancing recommendations they had seen.

Description of the characteristics of the clinical incidents reported in 2020 to the voluntary reporting system of a pediatric hospital in Costa Rica

The objective of this manuscript was to describe the clinical incidents that were sent to the voluntary reporting system during 2020 at the National Children's Hospital of Costa Rica, belonging to the Costa Rican Social Security Fund. A descriptive observational study of the consolidated data that was sent during the months of January to December of the year 2020 was carried out. During 2020, 1.6% of the patients treated in the hospital experienced some type of clinical incident. The total discharges decreased by 38.4% compared to the discharges of the year 2019, however, the reported clinical incidents increased in the year 2020 by 37.6%, especially from the month of August. Sentinel events were not reported this year. The services that made the highest number of reports were Intensive Care (14.3%), General Surgery (12%), Neonatology (9.8%) and Infectiology (9%). The day on which the most incidents were reported was Wednesday (27.8%), in the first hospital shift most of the cases were reported (48.1%) and these incidents occurred predominantly to male individuals (66%). Regarding the age of the patients, the majority were in the age range from 1 year to less than 5 years (36.1%), followed by the age range from over 29 days to under 1 year (24, 1%). Most of the cases were related to the care provided to the patient (63.9%). 41.4% of the incidents required clinical measures but the sequelae were transitory. 51.1% of the cases merited some type of additional medical care to their therapeutic scheme upon admission. 96% of clinical incidents were reported by nursing staff. Most of the clinical incidents (35.3%) in this period were errors related to notes in the digital file.

The Impact of a Legally Defined Just Culture on Voluntary Reporting of Safety Information

The aim of the present study was to examine commercial pilots’ reporting behavior and confidence in their airlines’ just culture. In pursuit of this aim, 539 European-based pilots participated in the study by answering an online questionnaire. The results are compared with an earlier study comprising Australian-based pilots. The results reveal that 84% and 57% of the European and Australian pilots, respectively, trust their airlines’ just culture. When comparing reporting behaviors, it was found that 53% of the Australian pilots and 33% of the European pilots stated they had failed to report, or had under-reported, safety information in their airlines’ safety management system. A distinct difference with the aviation regulatory backdrop that the two pilot groups operate within is the legal legitimization of just culture in European law. It is unknown whether this difference influences confidence in just culture or has an effect on reporting behavior.

Why Commercial Pilots Voluntarily Report Self-Inflicted Incidents

Voluntary incident reports by commercial pilots provide essential data for airline efforts in learning from incidents (LFI). Because LFI is frequently limited by pilots not reporting incidents voluntarily, we interviewed seven commercial aviation safety experts in a focus group to derive factors influencing the voluntary reporting behavior of pilots’ self-inflicted incidents. As a result, we derived 36 factors and integrated them into a motivational framework by van den Broeck et al. (2019) . Pilots pursue various goals when voluntarily reporting incidents, such as enabling safety-related change or organizational learning. This behavior is influenced by personal antecedents, such as shame, and contextual antecedents, such as feedback. Our work expands the understanding of motivational aspects of voluntary incident reporting and discusses practical interrelations.

Environmental sustainability disclosure and accounting conservatism

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.

Soft law, institutional signalling – Thai corporate environmental disclosures

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of soft law and institutional signalling on voluntary reporting of environmentally sensitive companies in Thailand. Design/methodology/approachEnvironmental disclosures in annual reports and sustainability reports of 108 listed companies for the years 2010–2014 were analysed using a checklist of un-weighted scores combined with panel data modelling. FindingsThe results show increasing trends of voluntary reporting dominated by disclosures on emissions data. Thai sustainability reporting guidelines released in 2012 were found to have a significant effect on the amount of disclosures of companies in the agriculture and food sector only. Results show that the age of the company and media attention have a significant positive relationship with environmental disclosures. Profitability is found to have a negative relationship with the level of environmental disclosures. Research limitations/implicationsThis study adds to existing environmental reporting literature from the perspective of soft law and institutional signalling and their impact on environmental reporting in the context of an economically developing, environmentally sensitive and in a Buddhist cultural setting country, Thailand. Originality/valueThis paper looks at Thai environmental disclosures from the perspective of soft law and institutional signalling, which is an original and unique contribution to CSR literature, considered through the lens of institutional legitimacy.

Drivers of corporate voluntary disclosure: a systematic review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic and comprehensive review of the existing literature on the determinants of firms reporting practices. Design/methodology/approach Following a systematic method, the sample literature of 135 studies was collected from the Scopus database. These studies were evaluated in terms of the theoretical lenses applied in the literature, yearly trend, regional distribution, research settings and prior studies finding to provide some recommendations for further research. Findings The investigation revealed that the literature was more interested in the agency theory in investigating the drivers of voluntary reporting such as company size, age, leverage, liquidity, profitability, corporate governance and ownership structure. Although firm-specific determinants were the most examined in the previous studies, however, the result is still inconclusive. Also, limited work was found on the country-related factors, while internal audit impact has yet to be explored. Originality/value Being the first of its kind, this research provides a comprehensive review of the current research landscape on the drivers of environmental or social disclosure and highlights several interesting opportunities for future research.

Analysis of Compliance with the Mandatory Sustainability Report in Peruvian Listed Companies

Research on institutional influence on sustainability information indicates that organisations prepare reports voluntarily, following international standards. On the other hand, some countries’ regulation has requested the presentation of mandatory sustainability reporting for listed companies. In Peru, stock market regulations have established the mandatory sustainability report since 2016. The aim of this study is to analyse the nature and the level of compliance of listed Peruvian companies with the sustainability mandatory report at 2017 and 2018. Further, the study seeks to analyse whether company size, profitability, indebtedness, sector, voluntary report, and transnational nature determine the level of compliance with mandatory reporting. The results indicate that the level of reporting compliance is not high; the greatest incidence of fulfilment occurs with respect to reporting labour performance, with suppliers and clients, with a high regulatory and sectoral institutional influence. Likewise, size, profitability, sector, and the companies’ voluntary reporting experience are determinants of the compliance level of mandatory sustainability reporting.