A longitudinal Examination of Environmental Reporting Practices in Malaysia

Abstract

A content analysis of the annual reports of 96 Malaysian companies in 1999, 2003 and 2006 finds that the number of companies reporting on the environment increased from 47 percent in 1999 to 60 percent in 2003, and further increased to 67 percent in 2006. However, the extent of environmental reporting as measured by the number of environmental sentences and disclosure scores (using a self-constructed disclosure index) indicates a low quality of disclosure. Overall, the disclosure is ad-hoc and predisposed towards building a “good corporate citizen” image. The increasing trend, however, is consistent with the prediction of social issue life cycle theory.

Keywords

• content analysis
• disclosure index
• environmental reporting
• Malaysia
• social issue life cycle theory