The influence of institutional contexts on the relationship between voluntary carbon disclosure and carbon emission performance

This article examines the relationship between the level of voluntary carbon disclosure (VCD) and carbon emission performance and how the institutional context influences this relationship. Using a sample of Global 500 firms participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) over the period 2008–2015, the evidence shows a negative relationship between voluntary carbon disclosure and carbon emission performance, which is consistent with the legitimacy theory that VCD may be undertaken for the purposes of legitimation. However, stringent carbon institutions appear to restrict legitimation attempts and help better reflect underlying performance.     

Carbon disclosure,emission intensity and cost of equity capital: multi-country evidence

This study examines the joint effect of carbon disclosure and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on firms’ implied cost of equity capital (COC). Based on 4655 firm-year observations across 34 countries, we find firms’ GHG emission intensity to be positively associated with COC. However, we find also that the penalty linked with higher COC is moderated by extensive carbon disclosure. We provide evidence that the extent of carbon disclosure helps reduce the premium required by investors to compensate for poor carbon performance. Our study provides insights to policymakers, investors and managers on the combined effect of carbon disclosure, and emission intensity.     

Does voluntary carbon disclosure reflect underlying carbon performance?

Carbon information is becoming more and more important in the decision making of stakeholders, but there is growing concern regarding the reliability of corporate carbon disclosure and a lack of empirical studies addressing this issue. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether voluntary carbon disclosure reflects firms’ true carbon performance. Level of carbon disclosure was measured based on content analysis of Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports, and our carbon performance index focused on both carbon intensity of emissions and carbon mitigation. Based on a sample of 474 U.S., U.K., and Australian firms, our findings show a significant positive association between carbon disclosure and performance, suggesting that firms’ voluntary carbon disclosure in the CDP is indicative of their underlying actual carbon performance. This result is consistent with signalling theory. Our findings are useful for corporate stakeholders and governmental policymakers who are concerned about the quality of voluntary greenhouse gas disclosure.     

Climate Change and Asset Prices: Are Corporate Carbon Disclosure and Performance Priced Appropriately?

This paper empirically assesses the relevance of information on corporate climate change disclosure and performance to asset prices, and discusses whether this information is priced appropriately. Findings indicate that corporate disclosures of quantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, to a lesser extent, carbon performance are value relevant. We use hand‐collected information on quantitative GHG emissions for 433 European companies and build portfolios based on GHG disclosure and performance. We regress portfolios on a standard four factor model extended for industry effects over the years 2005 to 2009. Results show that investors achieved abnormal risk‐adjusted returns of up to 13.05% annually by exploiting inefficiently priced positive effects of (complete) GHG emissions disclosure and good corporate climate change performance in terms of GHG efficiency. Results imply that, firstly, information costs involved in carbon disclosure and management do not present a burden on corporate financial resources. Secondly, investors should not neglect carbon disclosure and performance when making investment decisions. Thirdly, during the period analysed, financial markets were inefficient in pricing publicly available information on carbon disclosure and performance. Mandatory and standardised information on carbon performance would consequently not only increase market efficiency but result in better allocation of capital within the real economy.     

Corporate environmental disclosure and political connection in regulatory and leadership changes: The case of China

With a rapid increase of corporate environmental disclosure in developing countries, more attention is drawn to the extent to which this increase is influenced by corporate political connection. This paper focuses on China, a country experiencing increasing tensions between fast economic growth and heavy environmental pollution, complicated by high levels of political connections. A more important context in China is a historical leadership change entangled with significant regulatory reform to tackle corruption in 2013–14. Using hand-collected data from heavily polluting companies in 2012 and 2015 respectively, this study finds that there is a positive association between political connections of corporate chairmen and environmental disclosure levels in 2015 but not in 2012, suggesting that corporate disclosure behaviour has become more politically motivated after the regulatory and leadership change. There has been a significant improvement in environmental disclosure quality and this improvement is prominent in firms with politically connected chairmen. Although the regulatory change to eliminate corruption has led to substantial reductions in political connections of CEOs and senior executives, change associated with corporate chairmen is marginal. These results imply that the improvement of environmental disclosure is related more to the greater political intervention enabled by the leadership shift and power consolidation during the anti-corruption campaign than to the regulatory change to reduce political shield.     

Corporate disclosure reactions to Australia’s first national emission reporting scheme

This study investigates the strategic and potentially legitimising nature of voluntary emissions reporting by Australian companies. The study contributes to the existing literature by extending the chronological history of emissions disclosure and examining changes in emission disclosure practices during the implementation period of the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI). The NPI was Australia’s first extensive emission measurement and public reporting requirement. Disclosures are identified as being reactive to the introduction of actual emissions regulation; however, the extent of disclosure is not complete both within and between companies.     

Accounting for carbon and reframing disclosure: A business model approach

This paper contributes to the research in accounting and the debate about the nature of carbon footprint reporting for society. This paper utilises numbers and narratives to explore changes in carbon footprint using UK national carbon emissions data for the period 1990–2009 and six years (2006–2011) of carbon emissions data for the FTSE 100 group of companies and a case study that focuses on the UK mixed grocery sector. Our argument is that existing approaches to framing carbon disclosure generate malleable, inconsistent and irreconcilable numbers and narratives. In this paper we argue for an alternative framing of carbon disclosure informed by a reporting entities business model. Specifically, we suggest, that a reporting entity disclose its carbon–material stakeholder relations. This alternative, we argue, would increase the visibility of carbon generating stakeholder relations and avoid some of the difficulties and arbitrariness associated with framing carbon disclosure around a reporting entity boundary where judgements have to be made about responsibility and operational control.     

我国上市公司信息披露质量对其财务绩效影响的实证研究——基于非线性和非对称性的视角

本文以2006-2010年的深市A股上市公司为样本,以每股收益为上市公司财务绩效的替代变量,以深交所对上市公司信息披露考评结果作为信息披露质量的替代变量,研究了我国上市公司信息披露质量对其财务绩效的影响。结果表明：上市公司信息披露质量对其财务绩效的影响是非线性的,具体表现为正u型;上市公司信息披露质量的变动对其财务绩效的影响是非对称的。最后,本文根据回归分析结果提出了相应的政策建议。     

Voluntary disclosure,greenhouse gas emissions and business performance: Assessing the first decade of reporting

This study explores the empirical relationships between GHG emissions and an extensive range of business performance measures for UK FTSE-350 listed firms over the first decade or so of such reporting. Despite the popular and policy generated environmental imperatives over this period—along with growing evidence of the corporate added-value of having an ‘environmental conscience’, voluntary disclosure of emissions has been slow to adopt by firms. The leading contribution is to present clear evidence of a non-linear relationship, initially increasing with firm performance and then decreasing. An extensive pattern of non-reporting of emissions is also observed over time, and prior literature has introduced questions of endogeneity existing between firm performance and emissions. Steps are taken to ensure confidence/robustness of the results to these concerns. Accordingly, a two-stage (Heckman-type) selection model is used to analyse the emissions-performance nexus conditional upon the firm choosing to report (i.e. treating the choice to report as being endogenously determined with firm performance). From this—in addition to confirming the robustness of the non-linear relationship—it can be observed that the decision to report emissions is not directly influenced by wider social/governance disclosure attitudes of a firm, thus suggesting that firms disassociate environmental responsibility from social responsibility.     

Corporate carbon assurance and the quality of carbon disclosure

Based on an international sample, this study examines the association between corporate carbon assurance and carbon disclosure. We find that companies that adopt carbon assurance tend to have better carbon disclosure quality than their unassured peers. Cross-sectional analyses demonstrate that the positive relationship is stronger in stakeholder-oriented countries. We also document that carbon assurance plays a substitutive role for country-level carbon regulation and social trust. Further analyses suggest that carbon assurance has differential impacts on specific types of carbon disclosure and the quality of carbon disclosure increases with the percentage of reported emissions assured and the level of carbon assurance.     

投资者情绪对上市公司业绩快报自愿披露行为的影响 ——基于盈余管理部分中介效应的研究

基于会计策略的综合运用视角,探寻上市公司盈余管理行为在投资者情绪影响业绩快报披露过程中的中介作用。研究发现：公司年报中正向盈余管理程度越大,披露业绩快报的可能性越大;对于盈利公司而言,高涨的投资者情绪对业绩快报披露的促进作用部分通过盈余管理策略中介,但对于亏损公司而言,高涨的投资者情绪会对业绩快报披露产生直接抑制作用,投资者情绪高涨经由盈余管理策略对业绩快报披露所产生的间接正向影响,会被直接的抑制作用所遮掩。研究结论有助于深入了解上市公司不同信息披露策略之间的交互影响,并进一步理清投资者情绪对公司不同信息披露策略的作用机理。     

Is private social, ethical and environmental reporting mythicizing or demythologizing reality?

There is some evidence that private social, ethical and environmental reporting (SEER) between companies and their core institutional investors has started to evolve over recent years. However, there is little research exploring the private SEER process in detail. This paper seeks to address this evolving area of corporate communication using interviews. The evidence reveals a series of mutual benefits to companies and institutional investors arising from the private SEER process. Companies are gaining from SEE engagement and dialogue, as they are using the process to inform public SEE disclosure. They are using private SEE disclosure to preempt investor surprises. Institutional investors are benefiting from the supplementary SEE information gained in private communications with investee companies. They are also using information on managers’ SEE performance gained from private dialogue, as a proxy for management quality. The private SEE disclosure process appears to be nurturing mutual understanding between companies and their core institutional investors. Drawing from a pedagogic perspective, applied previously to SER and stakeholder engagement, as well as to accounting education, we show that ‘good’ private SEE disclosure should take on the characteristics of a dialogic, problem-posing, educative process. We consider four potential outcomes. Such a process may demythologize SEE issues. However, there is also the possibility that a recreated joint myth may emerge from collaborative dialogue between two such powerful groups. Other possible outcomes are that companies may capture the process in order to perpetuate their own SEE myth or that private SEE disclosure may dwindle as public SEE disclosure improves.     

Voluntary disclosure practices amongst listed companies in Nigeria

This study examines voluntary disclosure practices amongst listed companies in Nigeria. Results from univariate and multivariate analyses of 52 listed companies suggest an average voluntary disclosure of 44% based on modified Meek, Roberts and Gray (1995) disclosure index comprising 24 disclosure items. The study found significant positive relationship between voluntary disclosure and firm size, measured as the natural logarithm of total asset. The study documents significant positive relationship between market-based definition of firm performance and voluntary disclosure. The study also found significant negative relationship between percentage of block share ownership and percentage of managerial share with firm disclosures. The study has important implication for both individual and institutional investors globally, regulators and policy makers in developing economies.     

Corporate mandatory disclosure practices in Bangladesh

This study reports the results of an empirical investigation of the extent of mandatory disclosure by 94 listed companies in Bangladesh. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and mandatory disclosure of the sample companies. The results indicate that companies in general have not responded adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. It has been found that companies, on average, disclose 44% of the items of information, which leads to the conclusion that prevailing regulations are ineffective monitors of disclosure compliance by companies. Company age appears to be an insignificant factor for mandatory disclosure. And there is little support for industry size as a predictor of mandatory disclosure except where size is measured by sales. Then it is marginally significant. Profitability was also found to have no effect on disclosure. And status, i.e., whether a company is modern or traditional also has no effect on mandatory disclosure.     

Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension

This paper is concerned with the attempts to explain the disclosure of social and environmental information in the annual reports of large companies by reference to observable characteristics of those companies. An extensive literature has sought to establish whether variables such as corporate size, profit and industry segments can explain corporations' disclosure practices. The results from that predominantly North American and Australasian literature are largely inconclusive. This paper provides an extension of that literature by considering a more disaggregated specification of social and environmental disclosure and by employing a detailed time-series data set. By so doing, the paper tests two possible explanations for the inconclusiveness of prior research: namely that any relationships between corporate characteristics and disclosure are dependent upon the type of disclosure and that any such relationships are not stable through time. The results provide support for these explanations as sufficient, if not necessary, conditions for explaining the inconsistency in prior results.     

Demand for,and impediments to,the disclosure of information about climate change-related corporate governance practices

Based on a survey of climate change experts in different stakeholder groups and interviews with corporate climate change managers, this study provides insights into the gap between what information stakeholders expect, and what Australian corporations disclose. This paper focuses on annual reports and sustainability reports with specific reference to the disclosure of climate change-related corporate governance practices. The findings culminate in the refinement of a best practice index for the disclosure of climate change-related corporate governance practises. Interview results indicate that the low levels of disclosures made by Australian companies may be due to a number of factors. A lack of proactive stakeholder engagement and an apparent preoccupation with financial performance and advancing shareholders interest, coupled with a failure by managers to accept accountability, seems to go a long way to explaining low levels of disclosure.     

Segmental Disclosure Practice: Thirteen Years On

In an age of financial disclosure directed by professional standards, the changes in practice voluntarily undertaken by companies are sometimes difficult to detect. By focusing on a period prior to the introduction of SSAP 25, the segmental disclosure issue offers an opportunity to consider whether practice has voluntarily changed. An examination of the extent and quality of segmental disclosure, for a specific group of companies over an extended period, offers an indication of the need for a standard or further regulation. If it can be demonstrated that disclosure practice has improved under a primarily self-regulatory framework, the need for a standard like SSAP 25 may be questioned. The segmental disclosure practices of the same group of seventy companies are compared for the reporting years 1975–6 and 1988–9. Whilst an underlying improvement in respect to business activity disclosure is revealed, the same cannot be claimed for geographic segmental disclosure. Not only has the number of companies reporting profit by geographic segment declined but also the consistency with other aspects of the annual report has reduced.     

Tone at the top: CEO environmental rhetoric and environmental performance

In this study we attempted to ascertain the environmental leadership and commitment of the CEO as evidence of “tone at the top” in the belief that this would lead to enhanced environmental performance. We measure “tone at the top” by the environmental disclosure score which is collected from a content analysis of CEO letters to shareholders. We adopt the two environmental performance measures: (1) Environmental Impact Score (EIS) from Newsweek Green Ranking and (2) Modeled Hazard Population Results (MHPR) based on Risk-Screening Environmental Indicator (RSEI) models built by EPA. The results indicate that the environmental disclosure score from the CEO letter is inversely correlated with environmental performance. The overall findings support legitimacy theory in that CEOs essentially “spin” firms' environmental performance so it looks better than it actually is.