Usefulness of Environmental Reporting

Vol. 3, No. 12

International Journal of Business and Management

Corporate Environmental Reporting: An EmergingIssue in the Corporate World
Alok Kumar Pramanik Department of Commerce, Bhatter College P.O. – Dantan, Pin 721426, Dist. – Paschim Medinipur (West Bengal) Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Nikhil Chandra Shil, ACMA (Corresponding Author) Department of Business Administration, East West University 43, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Tel: [phone] (M) Email: [e-mail]

Bhagaban Das P.G. Department of Business Management, Fakir Mohan University P.O. – Balasore, Pin 756019, Orissa, India E-mail: [e-mail]
Abstract

Corporate environmental reporting becomes a crucial issue in today’s corporate reporting. The present status and future focus gives every indication that it is going to capture a permanent position in the bundle of general-purpose financial statement. Because, the corporate reporting is for the stakeholders and every stakeholders show a keen interest on such disclosure. Protecting the environment is the social responsibility and commitment of corporations towards the society. It is believed that corporation is responsible for the environmental crisis and so they should pay for this (cost-benefit trade off). However, reporting is mostly guided by standards, guidelines etc. And, we do not have any standards designed for such disclosure. So, such reporting is still voluntary that has no specific format and style. Voluntary disclosure often leads to non-disclosure and mandatory disclosure leads to minimal disclosure. Thus, environmental disclosure should have both type of orientation, as it is a question of life and sustainability. The paper gives a conceptual discussion on corporate environmental reporting and guidelines. It also gives a literature review of current reporting practices to highlights the developments till date. And, this concludes that the level, extent and style of disclosure

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