Investors and stakeholders in continental Europe are becoming increasingly concerned about corporate environmental policies. As a result, many firms are voluntarily increasing the extent of their environmental disclosure in their annual report. While mostly unregulated, corporate environmental disclosure does have potential economic significance considering the scarcity of alternative information sources. The purpose of this study is to identify determinants of corporate environmental disclosure using multi-theoretical lenses that rely on economic incentives, public pressures and institutional theory. The study focuses on large firms from a continental Europe country, Germany, with a distinct legal and regulatory context and where environmental concerns are especially acute. Results show that Risk, Ownership, Fixed Assets Age, Firm Size as well as routine determine the level of environmental disclosure by German firms in a given year. Moreover, consistent with institutional theory, results suggest that German firms' disclosure is converging over time. Overall, results strongly suggest that environmental disclosure is multidimensional and is driven by complementary forces.Environmental disclosure, disclosure quality, information costs, routine, public pressures,

No abstract

No abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine three electric utilities, two publicly owned and one privately owned. The basis of this examination is legitimacy theory employing a small sample case‐type approach. In particular we are interested in social and environmental disclosures found in annual reports and how these disclosures differentiate between publicly owned and privately owned enterprises. In our examination we use some traditional efficiency measures but we also employ effectiveness measures relying on the proprietary costs and information costs views in our analysis. Our major findings are that ownership status and size, which are likely to affect legitimacy, influence the amount of social and environmental disclosure. Finally, while environmental disclosures seem to be related to information costs and benefits, this relationship does not seem to hold for social disclosures.

In response to investors' and other stakeholders' concerns about corporate environmental policies, many firms are voluntarily increasing their level of environmental disclosure since there is a scarcity of alternative information sources. Using a cost-benefit framework, this study intends to identify determinants of corporate environmental reporting by Canadian firms subject to water pollution compliance regulations during the 1986–1993 period. Results suggest that information costs and a firm's financial condition are key determinants of environmental disclosure. Firm size, the regulatory regime governing corporate disclosure, and industry, also contribute to explaining environmental disclosure.