Through the juxtaposition of theory and a meso-level empirical illustration of the environmental disclosures included in the annual reports of Canadian public companies operating in the mineral extraction, forestry, oil and gas, and chemical industries over the 1982 to 1991 period, the current study attempts to increase our understanding of the role and functioning of environmental disclosures. Our analyses focus on three concerns: the influence of external pressure on environmental disclosures in annual reports, including the amount and types of strategies used in disclosure; the characteristics of environmental disclosure vis-a-vis other “social” disclosures; and the association between environmental disclosures and actual performance. We question whether such disclosures highlight positive environmental actions, obfuscate negative environmental effects or both.

Managing Public Impressions: Environmental Disclosures in Annual Reports

The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting

A key assumption underlying many corporate social reporting content analysis studies is that volume of disclosure signifies the relative importance of disclosures. Most of these studies have only quantified disclosures in annual reports, and there is disagreement within the literature regarding the best way to measure each individual disclosure. Based on observations made during the conduct of a 100‐year content analysis study, which examined a broad range of Shell’s corporate reports, this paper argues that an exclusive focus on annual reports is likely to result in an incomplete picture of reporting practices. It also contributes further insights to the debate on measurement techniques, arguing that while measurement in sentences may be carried out with greater accuracy than measurement in proportions of a page, the former is likely to give less relevant results than the latter.

Methodological issues ‐ Reflections on quantification in corporate social reporting content analysis

This review paper argues that the institutions and sites of professionalization projects and regulatory processes matter. The institutions and locations where regulation takes place affect both the outcome of the regulatory process and the legitimacy of the rules and practices produced. Changes in regulatory processes affect opportunities for democratic control and legitimacy. A common position in the accounting literature is to examine both the process of professionalization and accounting and audit regulation within and around professional associations and related organizations, such as standard setting bodies and regulatory agencies. We argue that professional firms are increasingly important in professionalization and regulatory processes and have not received the attention that they warrant: an examination of the multi-national professional service firms (currently known as the Big 4) can enhance an understanding of professionalization and professional regulation. We suggest that these are important sites where accounting practices are themselves standardized and regulated, where accounting rules and standards are translated into practice, where professional identities are mediated, formed and transformed, and where important conceptions of personal, professional and corporate governance and management are transmitted.

Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization

Islamic Banks (IBs) are considered as having ethical identity, since the foundation of their business philosophy is closely tied to religion. In this article, we explore whether any discrepancy exists between the communicated (based on information disclosed in the annual reports) and ideal (disclosure of information deemed vital based on the Islamic ethical business framework) ethical identities and we measure this by what we have termed the Ethical Identity Index (EII). Our longitudinal survey results over a 3-year period indicate the overall mean EII of only one IB out of seven surveyed to be above average. The remaining six IBs suffer from disparity between the communicated and ideal ethical identities. We further found the largest incongruence to be related to four dimensions: commitments to society; disclosure of corporate vision and mission; contribution to and management of zakah, charity and benevolent loans; and information regarding top management. The results have important implications for communication management if IBs are to enhance their image and reputation in society as well as to remain competitive.

http://assaif.org/content/download/2391/14884/file/exploring the ethical identity of islamic.pdf

Exploring the Ethical Identity of Islamic Banks via Communication in Annual Reports

Visual images are integral elements within corporate annual reports. Yet, these visual images have been largely ignored in accounting research. We begin to explore the significance of selected visual images appearing in U.S. annual reports during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Our intent is not to produce a general survey of images, but rather to offer different “ways of seeing” images and through these “ways of seeing” to encourage a critical dialogue that focuses upon the representational, ideological and constitutive role of images in annual reports. Our first way of seeing views the image as transparently conveying an intended corporate message. The second way of seeing draws upon neo-Marxist aesthetic literature and considers the ways in which images in annual reports may be mined for their ideological content and may also reveal society's deep structures of social classification, institutional forms and relationships. Finally, we employ critical postmodernist art theory to see images in terms of their constitutive role in creating different types of human subjectivities and realities. We argue that this way of seeing creates the potential for new voices to be heard and the possibility to subvert the dualisms typical of the totalizing theories of modernity.

Christopher Wright

Papers

IMag[in]ing annual reports