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Tuesday 4th August
16:00-17:30
Session 1 Room 4
by
A. J. Stagliano
Saint Joseph's University
and
W. Darrell Walden
University of Richmond
An understanding of environmental disclosure themes used in environmental reporting in annual reports may provide a foundation for improving environmental information. The objective of our study is to provide insight into environmental disclosure themes used in the financial and nonfinancial sections of corporate annual reports. In addition, the study explores the relationship between these environmental disclosure themes and environmental performance. Findings from a sample of 53 companies in four industries suggest that the financial section of annual reports contain mostly information about environmental expenditures and environmental contingencies. Environmental disclosures in the nonfinancial section of the annual report contain mostly information about pollution abatement and various other environmental information. The highest perceived quality of disclosure is associated with environmental expenditures and environmental contingencies. Other environmental information and pollution abatement disclosures scored the lowest in quality. The findings support previous studies that there is little or no relationship between environmental disclosures and environmental performance.
Keywords: (N/A)