IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v42y2010i4p227-240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shareholders’ requirements for corporate environmental disclosures: A cross country comparison

Author

Listed:
  • de Villiers, Charl
  • van Staden, Chris J.

Abstract

We survey individual shareholders in Australia, the UK and the US regarding corporate environmental disclosures. In general, respondents in the three countries are interested in, and positively disposed towards, these disclosures. We observe country and gender differences with Australian and female respondents more in favour of environmental reporting than others. Specifically, respondents require disclosure of an overview of environmental risks and impacts, the environmental policy, performance against measurable environmental targets and information on a range of environmental costs. Most shareholders require environmental disclosures to be audited. Shareholders call for environmental information because they believe managers should be accountable to shareholders for their companies’ environmental impacts. Furthermore, shareholders have indicated the uses for specific types of environmental information. Our results imply that legislators, standard setters and companies have to consider the policy implications of these shareholder views.

Suggested Citation

  • de Villiers, Charl & van Staden, Chris J., 2010. "Shareholders’ requirements for corporate environmental disclosures: A cross country comparison," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 227-240.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:42:y:2010:i:4:p:227-240
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2010.08.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838910000892
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2010.08.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Owen, David L., 2005. "Assurance statement practice in environmental, social and sustainability reporting: a critical evaluation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 205-229.
    2. Blacconiere, Walter G. & Patten, Dennis M., 1994. "Environmental disclosures, regulatory costs, and changes in firm value," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 357-377, November.
    3. Claus Holm & Pall Rikhardsson, 2008. "Experienced and Novice Investors: Does Environmental Information Influence Investment Allocation Decisions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 537-557.
    4. Lars Hassel & Henrik Nilsson & Siv Nyquist, 2005. "The value relevance of environmental performance," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 41-61.
    5. Christian Chan & Markus Milne, 1999. "Investor reactions to corporate environmental saints and sinners: an experimental analysis," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 265-279.
    6. Pall Rikhardsson & Claus Holm, 2008. "The effect of environmental information on investment allocation decisions – an experimental study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(6), pages 382-397, September.
    7. Jill Frances Solomon & Aris Solomon, 2006. "Private social, ethical and environmental disclosure," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(4), pages 564-591, July.
    8. Halme, Minna & Huse, Morten, 1997. "The influence of corporate governance, industry and country factors on environmental reporting," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 137-157, June.
    9. van der Laan Smith, Joyce & Adhikari, Ajay & Tondkar, Rasoul H., 2005. "Exploring differences in social disclosures internationally: A stakeholder perspective," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 123-151.
    10. Brendan O'Dwyer & Jeffrey Unerman & Elaine Hession, 2005. "User needs in sustainability reporting: Perspectives of stakeholders in Ireland," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 759-787.
    11. Cormier, Denis & Magnan, Michel, 2003. "Environmental reporting management: a continental European perspective," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 43-62.
    12. Jong†Hag Choi & T. J. Wong, 2007. "Auditors' Governance Functions and Legal Environments: An International Investigation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 13-46, March.
    13. Carol Ann Tilt, 2008. "Environmental disclosure outside the annual report," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(3), pages 288-309.
    14. Widener, Sally K., 2007. "An empirical analysis of the levers of control framework," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 757-788.
    15. Patten, Dennis M. & Nance, Jon R., 1998. "Regulatory cost effects in a good news environment: The intra-industry reaction to the Alaskan oil spill," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4-5), pages 409-429.
    16. Denis Cormier & Michel Magnan & Barbara Van Velthoven, 2005. "Environmental disclosure quality in large German companies: Economic incentives, public pressures or institutional conditions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 3-39.
    17. Gregory A. Liyanarachchi & Markus J. Milne, 2005. "Comparing the investment decisions of accounting practitioners and students: an empirical study on the adequacy of student surrogates," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 121-135, June.
    18. de Villiers, Charl & van Staden, Chris J., 2006. "Can less environmental disclosure have a legitimising effect? Evidence from Africa," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 763-781, November.
    19. Fraser Bell & Glen Lehman, 1999. "Recent trends in environment accounting: how green are your accounts?," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 175-192, June.
    20. Craig Deegan & Barry J. Cooper & Marita Shelly, 2006. "An Investigation of TBL Report Assurance Statements: Australian Evidence," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 16(39), pages 2-18, July.
    21. Aerts, Walter & Cormier, Denis & Magnan, Michel, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosure, financial markets and the media: An international perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 643-659, January.
    22. Al-Tuwaijri, Sulaiman A. & Christensen, Theodore E. & Hughes, K. II, 2004. "The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: a simultaneous equations approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 447-471.
    23. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    24. Craig Deegan, 2004. "Environmental disclosures and share prices—a discussion about efforts to study this relationship," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 87-97, March.
    25. Rachel Croson & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 448-474, June.
    26. Abdel-Kader, Magdy & Luther, Robert, 2008. "The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 2-27.
    27. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    28. Ali, A & Hwang, LS, 2000. "Country-specific factors related to financial reporting and the value relevance of accounting data," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-21.
    29. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    30. Powell, Melanie & Ansic, David, 1997. "Gender differences in risk behaviour in financial decision-making: An experimental analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 605-628, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charl de Villiers & Chris van Staden, 2011. "Shareholder Requirements for Compulsory Environmental Information in Annual Reports and on Websites," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(4), pages 317-326, December.
    2. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    3. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    4. Matthias S. Fifka, 2013. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-35, January.
    5. Claus Holm & Pall Rikhardsson, 2008. "Experienced and Novice Investors: Does Environmental Information Influence Investment Allocation Decisions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 537-557.
    6. Emmanuel Iatridis, George, 2018. "Accounting discretion and executive cash compensation: An empirical investigation of corporate governance, credit ratings and firm value," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 29-49.
    7. Le Luo & Qingliang Tang & Hanlu Fan & Jamie Ayers, 2023. "Corporate carbon assurance and the quality of carbon disclosure," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 657-690, March.
    8. Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2019. "Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    9. Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, 2017. "Coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as determinants of the voluntary assurance of sustainability reports," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 102-118.
    10. Radhakrishnan, Suresh & Tsang, Albert & Liu, Rubing, 2018. "A Corporate Social Responsibility Framework for Accounting Research," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 274-294.
    11. Francesco Paolone & Fabrizio Granà & Laura Martiniello & Riccardo Tiscini, 2021. "Environmental risk indicators disclosure and value relevance: An empirical analysis of Italian listed companies after the implementation of the Legislative Decree 254/2016," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1471-1482, September.
    12. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    13. Lopin Kuo & Po-Wen Kuo & Chun-Chih Chen, 2021. "Mandatory CSR Disclosure, CSR Assurance, and the Cost of Debt Capital: Evidence from Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    14. Denis Cormier & Pascale Lapointe-Antunes & Michel Magnan, 2015. "Does corporate governance enhance the appreciation of mandatory environmental disclosure by financial markets?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 897-925, November.
    15. Kuruppu, Sanjaya & Milne, Markus J., 2010. "Dolphin deaths, organizational legitimacy and potential employees’ reactions to assured environmental disclosures," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19.
    16. Jean-Noël Chauvey & Sophie Giordano-Spring & Charles Cho & Dennis Patten, 2015. "The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 789-803, September.
    17. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    18. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    19. Aerts, Walter & Cormier, Denis & Magnan, Michel, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosure, financial markets and the media: An international perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 643-659, January.
    20. Rezaee, Zabihollah, 2016. "Business sustainability research: A theoretical and integrated perspective," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 48-64.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:42:y:2010:i:4:p:227-240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.