Women on boards and greenhouse gas emission disclosures

We apply institutional and board capital theory to examine whether women on boards are associated with disclosure and quality of corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related reporting. We examine the research problem in Australia in a period when no requirements existed for listed companies to appoint female directors or to report GHG emissions. This environment allows us to examine the association between women on boards and GHG emissions related disclosure in annual and sustainability reports in a voluntary setting. We find that companies with multiple female directors make GHG emissions related disclosures that are of higher quality.     

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.     

The effects of board characteristics and sustainable compensation policy on carbon performance of UK firms

This study examines the effects of board characteristics and sustainable compensation policy on carbon reduction initiatives and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a firm. We use firm fixed effect model to analyse data from 256 non-financial UK firms covering a period of 13 years (2002–2014). Our estimation results suggest that board independence and board gender diversity have positive associations with carbon reduction initiatives. In addition, environment-social-governance based compensation policy is found to be positively associated with carbon reduction initiatives. However, we do not find any relationship between corporate governance variables and GHG emissions of a firm. Overall, our evidence suggests that corporate boards and executive management tend to focus on a firm's process-oriented carbon performance, without improving actual carbon performance in the form of reduced GHG emissions. The findings have important implications for practitioners and policymakers with respect to the effectiveness of internal corporate governance mechanisms in addressing climate change risks, and possible linkage between corporate governance reform and carbon related policies.     

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.     

Carbon Accounting: Challenges for Research in Management Control and Performance Measurement

Carbon reduction programs and corporate emissions reporting have expanded rapidly across firms in response to climate change and global warming. This development is partly driven by institutional demands and partly by value creation considerations. The consequences of these developments for management accounting and control (MAC) are not clear, despite anecdotal evidence that suggests an increasing effort to incorporate carbon accounting into traditional decision and reporting processes. The reasons for this lack of clarity are the disproportionate focus in practice on carbon disclosure, compared to a small number of empirical studies, and the absence of an academic debate in this novel area from a MAC perspective. This paper seeks to stimulate such an academic debate by reviewing the extant literature, identifying key theoretical and empirical shortcomings of extant academic research, and outlining some directions for future studies on carbon accounting. These directions are inspired by more established MAC research that may help to guide and organize MAC research in the emerging and exciting field of carbon accounting.     

Market valuation of greenhouse gas emissions under a mandatory reporting regime: Evidence from the UK

This study provides evidence on the potential benefits of mandatory environmental reporting for listed firms’ market valuation. It takes advantage of recent regulation that requires all listed firms in the UK to report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their annual reports and shows that the magnitude of the negative association between GHG emissions and the market value of listed firms decreased after the introduction of the reporting regulation. This decline is attributed to regulation forestalling shareholders’ negative reflexive reaction toward firms’ carbon disclosures, as proposed by the theoretical work of Unerman and O’Dwyer (2007).     

企业价值报告:现代财务报告演进的必然趋势

本文从传统财务报告体系缺乏直接的企业价值信息披露这一制度安排的分析出发,探讨了企业价值报告的演进及其对财务会计、管理会计和投资会计三大会计领域信息报告的影响,根据现代财务理论的价值发掘,提出了相应的企业价值报告整体设计。     

Carbon Management Accounting: Explaining Practice in Leading German Companies

This paper explores carbon management accounting (CMA) by examining the practices of leading German companies with pronounced policies and histories. Using interview data, field notes, documentary evidence, and questionnaires, this research identifies the CMA behaviour of 10 companies and grounds it in a theoretical framework to categorise the practices. With climate change to the forefront CMA provides an opportunity to (re)gain competitive advantage by exceeding the legislative requirements for reporting on carbon and carbon‐equivalent emissions, CMA, when properly understood and contextualised, provides an ability to increase both effectiveness and efficiency of information collection and dissemination, and may assist in overcoming the currently uncoordinated approaches evident in the sample companies, and thus contribute to improved carbon management performance.     

Estimating the impact of green ESIF in Romania using input-output model

This study develops one of the first estimates of the effects of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in Romania, in the context of supporting the transition to a low carbon economy across sectors. Using the green Leontief Input-Output model for the Romanian economy, aggregated at the NACE Rev.2 economic sectors, the analysis decomposes the direct, indirect, and induced effects of ESIF on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, following data related to both completed and contracted projects in the programming period 2014–2020. The empirical results reveal the minor, but positive, impact of ESIF on environmental degradation. Green funds under ESIF lead to a reduction of 1.14 million tonnes in the GHG emissions. Larger effects are expected due to the contribution of projects still under development, estimated to reduce GHG emissions by 4.48 million tonnes. Based on the results, the main policy implications were evidenced, given the important role that the state has to play in resource allocation and ensuring the efficiency of funds dedicated to green transition.     

Climate change reporting and multinational companies: Insights from institutional theory and international business

Multinational companies (MNCs) have an important impact on climate change, but knowledge on the greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting practices of MNCs is limited. A theoretical framework is developed to provide an explanation of GHG emissions reporting by MNCs. The framework combines institutional theory with the notion of MNC typology from International Business and explains how institutional pressure acting on each typology of MNC influences standardization of reporting practices and GHG emissions data quality. Propositions are developed and empirically investigated using a case study. Global MNCs are predicted to have better quality GHG emissions reporting compared to multi-domestic or transnational MNCs.     

Greenhouse Gas Disclosure and Emissions Benchmarking

I examine the effects of the U.S. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program, which requires thousands of industrial facilities to measure and report their GHG emissions. I show that facilities reduce their GHG emissions by 7.9% following the disclosure of emissions data. The evidence indicates that benchmarking—whereby facilities use the disclosures of their peers to assess their own relative GHG performance—spurs emission reductions. Firms' concerns about future legislation appear to motivate this behavior and measurement alone (without disclosure) seems not to reduce emissions. My study highlights how mandatory GHG disclosure can create real effects for peers.     

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.     

碳排放交易体系下的排放权交易会计政策研究

碳排放权交易作为减少工业温室气体排放的重要手段已在我国多个行政辖区应用实施。欧盟碳排放交易体系下的现行会计政策,对我国会计实务和准则制订有重要的参考借鉴作用。通过比较研究发现,政府补助法是较理想的碳排放权交易的会计方法,但要限制免费配额后续计量的重估模式和排放负债市价结算法的使用,实现政府补助法在会计方法层面的协调一致性,并择机对制造企业产品碳配额成本核算做出相应规定。     

Energy efficiency complexities: A technical and managerial investigation

Increased concern about sustainability issues has been voiced in the accounting literature. Although environmental performance is only one dimension of sustainability, it is nevertheless a key factor, especially in sectors such as the process industry, which consume substantial volumes of materials and energy. Energy itself is important because its production is a major cause of carbon emissions. Hence efforts to reduce its use are important, and here energy efficiency measurement and management play a key role.Although the conceptual challenges posed by energy efficiency measurement are well known in the technical literature, there has been little discussion of energy efficiency management. This paper examines the complexities involved in the measurement and management of energy efficiency. In particular, it examines how these complexities impede effective use of management control systems to impact the ability and motivation of employees to work toward the goals of sustainable development. The study is a cross-disciplinary one, and combines technical energy efficiency research and environmental management accounting research in performance management. The study provides practical knowledge of what happens in organizations pursuing sustainable development, in this case environmental performance. The paper demonstrates a performance indicator that does not allow proper energy efficiency performance management because it is still technically underdeveloped. Setting targets for the indicator is especially problematic.     

Modern slavery and the accounting profession

This first paper in the Special Issue on “Modern slavery and the accounting profession” considers how various branches and functions of the accounting profession in business operations and supply chains are implicated by the move to end modern slavery. Accounting has always been involved with slavery practices. When slavery was legal, accounting focused on reporting slaves as assets and expenses in the accounts. In these more humane times, now that ownership of slaves is illegal, the accounting profession has different functional responsibilities towards modern slavery. These include external reporting in line with and above and beyond requirements of legislation; internal management accounting to build awareness and support planning, control and decision making to reduce modern slavery risk and look for opportunities from mitigation; and audit and assurance to ensure credibility of claims made by business. The papers presented in this Special Issue touch upon some of the key aspects of the connection between modern slavery and management control systems, corporate disclosures and the historical role of professional auditors/the accounting profession, but much remains to be achieved in the research agenda ahead.     

Voluntary Carbon Reporting Prediction: A Machine Learning Approach

In this paper we address the impact of the introduction of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme on corporate carbon reporting, and subsequently identify factors that influence the level of voluntary carbon reporting. A review of the literature demonstrates a large number of potential factors have been previously deployed to explain voluntary reporting practices; however, the analytical and empirical methods widely used in the literature have limiting statistical assumptions and confine analysis to a small number of explanatory factors. To address this limitation in prior research we apply advanced machine learning methods, such as gradient boosting machines and random forests, to identify predictive variables through analytical means. We compare the performance of machine learning methods with traditional methods such as logistic regression. We find that machine learning methods significantly outperform logistic regression and provide fundamentally different interpretations of the role and influence of different predictive variables on voluntary carbon reporting. While most variables were not statistically significant in the logit results, a number of key proxies for financial performance, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility have out-of-sample predictive power of the level of voluntary carbon reporting in the machine learning analysis.     

Accounting and Accountability in Fiji: A Review and Synthesis

This paper reviews accounting and accountability research in Fiji. The review is based on 47 papers published since 1978 in accounting refereed journals, professional journals, edited book chapters and theses and other refereed journals outside accounting. In addition to categorisation of the reviewed papers according to accounting topics, theories and methods of data collection, some themes to which the papers could be related are discussed. Financial reporting/accountability research is the most popular research in Fiji followed by new public management research, with sustainability accounting research the third most popular. The paper's findings suggest some directions for future accounting research in Fiji and where the data can possibly be sourced for such research. We conclude that more research is needed in the Fijian context that focuses on accounting and the state, performance auditing, indigenous accounting, SMEs and accountability.     

或有表外项目的分类和计量研究

2001～2002年，大量的重大会计丑闻曝光，这些问题暴露了公司治理、审计实务和财务报告中的薄弱环节，其中两个主要问题是表外项目的范围（包括特殊目的实体的使用）和股票发行者的财务报告是否透明地反映了表外项目的经济实质。本文主要对或有表外项目中投资的分娄和计量进行兮析，并提供了美国上市公司投资于其他实体的经验研究与发现，以期对今后的衍生金融工具的会计处理提供借鉴。     

The role of a crisis in reshaping the role of accounting

Prior to 2001, international accounting standards (IAS) were insufficiently attractive to gain the support of US regulators. The potential role of IAS in the US gained prominence during a period of extreme financial reporting instability in 2001–2002. Emerging opinion increasingly upheld principles-based rather than rules-based accounting standards in the face of the financial reporting crisis. But to promote any active shift in the US position, an institutionally legitimate infrastructure for the international accounting standards setter had to be created. As this was taking shape, the globalisation of business activities grew with inter-organizational linkages and cross-national financial inter-dependencies and flows becoming increasingly complex. Given the extensively uncertain, uneven and constantly evolving nature of global business changes, the aptness of applying judgment in assessing financial performance and position rather than relying on the application of pre-defined rules continued to achieve wider acceptance. The argument is made in the paper that international financial reporting standards are today seen to fulfil a global risk mitigating role founded on a logic that had to first gain political and institutional legitimacy and that also had to be viewed as being responsive to perceived market imperatives.     

The Financial Accountability of Australia's Medicare System: A Generational Accounting Analysis

The financial sustainability of publicly funded health care systems is sensitive to the demographics of ageing populations, which have a significant bearing on their financial management, accountability and reporting of their financial performance. This paper examines historical and current trends in demographic structure of Australia's population that are likely to impact on the financial management and accountability practices affecting Australia'suniversal public health care system ('Medicare'). The pay-as-you-go financed funding status of Medicare as represented under both currently required, cash-based accounting principles and proposed accrual-based accounting principles are criticised for not recognising the obligations of the Australian government under Medicare. An alternative system of generational accounting is proposed that projects the financial management costs of Medicare. Data are taken from both historical trends in expenditure and ageing as well as projected demographics. The analysis implies that there is significant intergenerational-inequity in the funding of Medicare, which is not recognised under accrual-based accounting principles that are now being used to evaluate the financial accountability and performance of government entities.