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\LRH{M.P. Rodriguez Bolivar and B. Sen\'es Garcia}

\RRH{The corporate environmental disclosures on the internet}

\VOL{x}

\ISSUE{x}

\BottomCatch

\PAGES{xxxx}

\CLline

\PUBYEAR{2004}

\subtitle{}

\title{The corporate environmental disclosures on the internet: the case of
IBEX 35 Spanish companies}

\authorA{M. Pedro Rodr\'{\i}guez Bol\'{\i}var* and\newline
Bel\'{e}n Sen\'{e}s Garc\'{\i}a}

\affA{Department of Accounting and Finance,\\ Faculty of Economics
and Business Studies, University of Granada,\\ c/ Campus
Universitario de Cartuja s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain\\ Fax: +34
958246249\qquad E-mail: manuelp@ugr.es\\ E-mail: bsenes@ugr.es
\newline $^{*}$Corresponding author }

\begin{abstract}
This paper seeks to investigate the practices of corporate
environmental disclosures of the IBEX 35 Spanish firms on their websites.
Three areas are studied: (1) the disclosure of non-financial environmental
reporting; (2) the disclosure of financial environmental reporting; and (3)
the analysis of some aspects of the corporate websites that, in our opinion,
could affect the availability of the corporate environmental reporting. The
main findings of this paper are: (a) environmental disclosures made by firms
present a slight concentration of the data; (b) the compliance of the
standards of GRI guide is a key variable for non-financial environmental
disclosures on the internet; (c) financial environmental reporting disclosed
in the financial statements is quite limited, and (d) there is a need to
link non-financial environmental reporting and financial environmental
reporting, so that the user of the information can have a greater detail of
the influence of environmental concerns in the management of the firm.
\end{abstract}

\KEYWORD{environmental disclosures; World Wide Web; IBEX 35 Spanish
firms.}

\REF{to this paper should be made as follows: Rodr\'{\i}guez
Bol\'{\i}var, M.P. and Sen\'{e}s Garc\'{\i}a, B. (xxxx) `The
corporate environmental disclosures on the internet: the case of
IBEX 35 Spanish companies', {\it Int. J. Accounting, Auditing and
Performance Evaluation}, Vol. x, No. x, pp.xxx\textendash xxx.}

\begin{bio}
Manuel Pedro Rodr\'iguez Bol\'ivar received his PhD in Accounting
at the University of Granada. He is a Lecturer at the Department of
Accounting and Finance, University of Granada. His research
interests include issues related to conceptual frameworks of
accounting, diffusion of financial information on Internet,
Balanced Scorecard applications and environmental accounting. He is
author of a great deal of research studies published at national
and international journals, conference proceedings as well as book
chapters, one of which has been edited by Kluwer Academic
Publishers.

Bel\'en Sen\'es Garc\'ia received her PhD in Accounting at the
University of Granada. She is a Lecturer at the Department of
Accounting and Finance, University of Granada. Her research
interests are related to cultural, institutional and historic
accounting and in environmental accounting. She has published
research papers at national and international journals, conference
proceedings as well as chapters of books.

Both authors have published a book about environmental accounting
edited by the Institute of Accounting and Auditing, Ministry of
Economic Affairs, in Spain in October 2003.
\end{bio}

\maketitle

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\section{Introduction} %% 1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

In the last few years, corporate environmental disclosures are in a
spectacular development process. The requirements of environmental
reporting by stakeholders are increasingly taking into account the
materiality of this type of information to take decisions
\cite{1,2,3}. Many standards bodies have undertaken the issuance of
some guidelines to make a harmonised framework to improve the
presentation and understanding of environmental disclosures.

Many research works have examined the state-of-the-art in the
disclosure of corporate environmental reporting in hard copy format
(\citealp{8,9,10,11} --at an international level --, and
\citealp{12,13,14,15} --in Spain). Although hard copy format has
always been used by the companies as the most traditional media to
issue and disclose all kind of information, we think that the trend
in business to disclose environmental reporting should be on the
way of its dissemination through more versatile media as internet.
The internet can be particularly valuable for benchmarking the
policies, practices, tools and techniques \cite{16}. Besides, it
can be a useful tool for corporate environmental disclosures
because it would allow a bigger flexibility, ability and
availability of this type of information.

\section{A Bigger
Flexibility, Ability And Availability Of This Type Of\\
Information}

These concerns have made firms to disclose greater environmental
and social disclosures on their corporate websites. It has been
demonstrated by the studies carried out by the Pensions {\&}
Investments Research Consultants Limited \cite{17}, the United
Nations Environment Programme ({\&} Sustainability) \cite{18} and
the Environmental Resources Management \cite{19}. These empirical
evidences have been joined to the recommendations of the Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) --one of the main standards bodies to
issue Sustainability Reports --which encourages the use of the
internet to disclose environmental disclosures \citet[p.~17]{20}.
\begin{eqnarray}
a &=& b + c\\ b &=& c + d\\ c &=& d + e
\end{eqnarray}

In spite of the importance that is based on the previous comments,
the internet could have to disclose corporate environmental
reporting, few empirical studies have been conducted to know the
state of the art. Likewise, studies have not been conducted to
analyse the content of environmental disclosures on the internet
and their effect in the annual reports of the firms. In fact, these
studies are almost non-existent in the current environmental
literature.

This state of the art makes us to question if the leading Spanish
companies, besides being aware of the relevance of preservation of
the natural environment, also begin to worry about incorporating on
their websites their Environmental Reports and Sustainability
Reports. This is the main reason that justifies our interest to
analyse in what measure and in what way the information of this
type is disclosed.

This paper seeks to contribute, therefore, to the prior literature
related to corporate environmental disclosures in several ways. On
one hand, this paper pursues to know the amount and type of
environmental disclosures that Spanish firms included in the
selective market index IBEX 35 are providing to the different
stakeholders on the corporate websites. Second, corporate annual
reports have been examined to observe the financial incidence of
corporate environmental concerns. Finally, some basic elements of
corporate websites in which corporate environmental disclosures
take place are analysed. In short, this paper analyses some aspects
related to the navigability, design and accessibility to
environmental reporting on the corporate websites.

The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. First, the
advantages of the internet to disclose information regarding to
paper-based reporting are highlighted. Second, literature review
section provides an overview of the prior literature related to
corporate social disclosures both in paper-based reporting and on
the internet reporting. Later, this paper describes the methodology
of the research work. The empirical results are shown in the
section fifth of our paper. Finally, the main conclusions of our
research work as well as a discussion of their potential
implications are highlighted.

\section{Disclosure on the web: advantages over paper-based reporting}

According to \cite{21}, in the future, it will be increasingly
important to strengthen the company's communication abilities not
only on environmental performance and results, but sustainability
in broader terms, including social responsibility. The widespread
development of the Technologies of the Information and
Communications, which has taken place in all environments of the
economic and social life in the last years, can help companies to
meet these needs of communication. As corporate reporting is rooted
in society, currently there are pressures on corporate reporting to
adapt to a more knowledge-based society \cite{22}. This view is
embraced within legitimacy theory \cite{23}, which is not
competing, but complementary, with stakeholder and political
economy theories when applied to corporate social reporting
\cite{24}.

Consistent with the perspective provided by legitimacy theory,
corporate environmental reporting is disclosed for strategic
reasons, rather than on the basis of any perceived responsibilities
\cite{25}. In fact, to make the internet professionally usable for
reporting represents a managerial challenge implying several
strategic, organisational, personal, legal and technical
consequences \cite{26}. Dowling and Pfeffer \citet[p.~127]{27},
outline the means that are used by organisations, when faced with
legitimacy threats, to legitimate their activities. Organisations
can attempt, through communication to alter the definition of
social legitimacy, to become identified with symbols, values or
institutions, and to alter expectations of the organisation
\cite{28}. In fact, literature on managing legitimacy both explicit
and implicitly states that controlling and communicating tactical
responses is one of the means of managing legitimacy
\cite{27,28,29,30,31}. In this regard, we think that opportunities
offered by the implementation of new technologies can help
companies to meet these needs through the improvement of the
communication of corporate environmental reporting.

On the other hand, consistent with the perspective provided by
stakeholder theory, the opportunity for companies gaining
competitive advantage from environmental management systems depends
on the ability to communicate attitudes and performance to the
stakeholders. Nowadays, the new `threat' to companies will be that
stakeholders' expectations are high in terms of communication
\cite{21}. A WSSD Business Survey seems to demonstrate the latter
concern because in this survey the expectations on companies got a
higher score than governmental regulations and it was the highest
scored item in the section of roles and responsibilities of
multinational companies \cite{32}. Stakeholders will come to expect
a greater and greater level of transparency and the internet by way
of facilitating this shift will be torch for ethical and
sustainable conduct \cite{33}. Therefore, it is very important to
identify stakeholders and critical systems heuristics can help in
resolving this problem \cite{34}. In particular, political and
internal stakeholder groups as well as customers are the major
drivers for European countries in environmental matters
\cite{35,36}. In summary, in future, reporting and communicating
will require that companies

\begin{BL}
\item know what their stakeholders want to know
\item are able to mobilise critical information at the right time
and in the right format for purchases and other stakeholders to
obtain the benefit or `value' of the information \citet[p.~27]{37}.
\end{BL}
The form that the connections between organisations and the
stakeholders take can engage stakeholder \cite{38} and, this way,
new technologies can aid companies again to meet these needs in the
future. Although there are many modes of disclosing corporate
performance reporting such as press releases, analyst briefings and
conference calls, internet has been heralded as the information
superhighway. In this section, we identify the main characteristics
of internet corporate reporting.

In reference to financial reporting, several papers have shown the
advantages that internet can offer to disclose financial reporting
regarding the paper-based reporting (see Table 1). In fact, the
birth of the World Wide Web (Web) has allowed the firms to meet, in
a more efficient way, the most stakeholders' needs, offering a
higher flexibility in the way and quality of the information
supplied.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%Table 1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{table*}[b]
\TABLE{Comparison between the annual report in hard copy format and
the websites Comparison between the annual report in hard copy
format and the websites}
{\begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}lll} \HLINE \up
&{\it Annual report in hard copy}&\\
 {\it Characteristic}&  {\it format}& {\it Websites} \\
\Hline \up
Time to access to the message &Depends when
stakeholders want &None: The website is\\
by the stakeholders & to read the annual report&
 available whenever\\
 && stakeholder wants \\[5pt]
Availability space of the media& Limited by the size of the page&
Unlimited \\[5pt] Graphic contents& Yes &Yes \\[5pt] Audio
contents& No & Yes \\[3pt] Flexibility to move the site to a &
No&Yes \\ more appropriate localisation\\[5pt] \HLINE
\end{tabular*}}{{\it Source: }\cite{18,39,40,41,42,43,44,45}.}
\label{tab2}
\end{table*}

The possibility to disseminate information to a wider spectrum of
users has been a key feature that firms have conferred internet
regarding hard copy format. The corporate disclosures on the
website are available, except when it is offered under a certain
cost, to all visitors of the corporate websites. They need not have
specialist knowledge in the information disclosed --this process
has been called `{\it democratization of business information}'
\citet[p.~vii]{46}. As the number of people with a computer set
connected to internet is increasing in the last years, internet can
make corporate reporting globally accessible to all types of users
within and beyond national boundaries.

Only in Spain, a recent study of the Association for the
Investigation of the Media reveals that, in February--March 1996,
6,208,000 people with 14 years or over used the computer and
242,000 people were accustomed to connect to internet. In
October--November 2002, these figures rose spectacularly until
reaching the 11,527,000 computer users and 7,856,000 users of
internet \cite{47}. These numbers clearly demonstrate the Net's
greater potential for broad dissemination of information.

\begin{figure*} %%1
\caption{Bar chart for global scores. Comparison between the annual
report in hard copy format and the websites}
\centerline{\epsffile[0 0 291 188]{3069DOOP02.eps}}
\end{figure*}

Moreover, in this study it is also revealed that some of the most
visited websites were financial websites such as, for example,
www.invertia.com and www.spanishshare.com \citet[pp.~59, 60]{47}.
In fact, the use of financial reporting is one of the activities
referred by interviewers when they connected to internet --28{\%}
of interviewers pointed out this activity \citet[p.~63][47].
Finally, a generalisation of internet usage is taking place due to
the accessibility to this media by people. So, people is connecting
to internet at home or at the work place, and the internet is
practically used everyday --almost 75{\%} of interviewers connect
to the internet at home \cite[p.~22]{47}.

\begin{theorem}
Perhaps the accessibility to the information is one reason for the
web to be perceived as the best media to meet the needs of
stewardship and management disclosures of the entities, for
financial as well as non-financial reporting \cite{48,49}.
Nonetheless, in accordance with \cite{50}, the external environment
of the firm is a significant influence on a new and global medium
for disclosure such as internet. The general internet usage and the
disclosure environment at national level are likely to induce or
subdue corporate disclosure.
\end{theorem}

On the other hand, in the European Business Environmental Barometer
Survey, the cost of information was identified as the most
important obstacle that companies face when they implement an
environmental policy \cite{1}. Gathering and disseminating
information on `best practice' may overcome information cost
barriers. This is thought to be particularly important for small
and medium-sized enterprises where access to information is often
most restricted \cite{2}. Although the use of internet to disclose
corporate environmental reporting only represents a sound first
step to take advantage of information technology for sustainability
purposes, it becomes important to save large quantities of paper,
staff time and money \cite{3}. Therefore, the possibility to
disclose information with a lower cost is another main advantage of
internet. Empirical evidence is shown in research papers and
reports. For instance, \cite{4} examined and analysed the nature of
environmental reporting of large, public, US companies. In their
research, the authors pointed out that some companies indicated
that they were no longer printing as many reports, particularly as
other cheaper forms of distribution, such as internet, become
common. Likewise, \cite{5} concluded that peripheral modules such
as printing, scanning or writing a document often generate a larger
burden than the transfer of data itself, via e-mail or postal
service. Finally, in the report prepared by ENVIRON \cite{6}, a
survey was sent out to a total of 109 companies, of which 38 were
FTSE100 companies, a further 17 were FTSE350 companies and the
remaining were `other' environmental reporters. The survey
questionnaire was developed to allow companies to disclose the
costs and benefits associated with developing an Environmental
Report. The results indicate that companies that wish to limit the
costs of environmental reporting could be encouraged to consider
the production of electronic versions of their Environmental Report
as opposed to the publication of hard copy. Also, the cost of
updating this information is practically non-existent with
independence of the number of users of information. In other words,
the marginal cost for user is zero.

\begin{lemma}
Previous commentaries can make that firms provide the corporate
reporting on corporate websites and send statements to stakeholders
through e-mail if the stakeholder consents to receiving the
information in that manner and the company can prove a stakeholder
actually received the information. Some Regulations all around the
world as, for example, SEC release No. 33-7233 in the USA, allow
the delivery of information through an electronic medium. By this
way, the company no longer has to bear any realised costs of
printing and postage that usually suppose a great part of the
budget of the firm \cite[pp.~15; 44]{18}. In summary,
internet-based reporting can be more cost-effective than
paper-based reporting.
\end{lemma}

Besides, the paper form has become limited in capacity to disclose
all information needed by the users of information. In hard copy
format, the size of the paper and the length of the report are
clearly restricted by problems regarding their cost and
distribution \cite{42}. The new technological advances have helped
the firms to disseminate information without any problems. The
capacity of information storage in computers is increasing and the
needs for hardware to process it have been met fully. It makes
firms to be tempted to provide a higher amount of information to
the different stakeholders on their corporate websites about
compulsory as well as voluntary disclosure \cite{8,9,10}. Indeed,
the growing accessibility of the Web coupled with greater release
of environmental reporting is raising stakeholder for additional
disclosure \cite{1}.

\section{Environmental disclosures in paper-based reporting and internet
reporting: prior research}

\subsection{Environmental disclosures in paper-based reporting: theoretical foundations and prior research}

A number of post-1990 studies have focused on the relationship
between corporate social reporting and the possible motivation
underlying decisions to disclose this type of information
\cite{14}. Guthrie and Parker \cite{15} and Patten and Trompeter
\cite{16} assure that firms disclose this type of information as a
mechanism used to be protected and to avoid the attention of
regulatory bodies, particularly when sanctions for non-compliance
are invoked \cite{17}. Moreover, corporate environmental
initiatives may be used to shape government regulations attempting
to pre-empt future legislation altogether or failing this, to
soften the impact of the new laws by inducing regulators to set
relatively weak standards \cite{18}). Other incentives include the
compliance with industrial codes \cite{89}, the decrease of
operating costs \cite{19,21}, the creation of shareholder value
\cite{22,23,24,25}, and the improvement of the image of the firm
and the need to promote the relationship with customers and society
\cite{19,36,26,27,28}.

A study research in charged by the European Commission to \cite{11}
seems to demonstrate the latter concern. In Jones' study research,
a debate on internet was carried out and a questionnaire was
designed and sent to some firms from the UK, the USA, Sweden,
Germany, Finland, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland,
Denmark, Norway, Canada, Japan and Italy, and to expert and
advisory's bodies. In the study, the advertisement, the fulfilment
of investors' needs and the financial incidence of the
environmental concerns of the firm were pointed out as main reasons
to disclose environmental reporting.
\[
\int_{\Omega_1} (u_e)_t+\int_{\partial\Omega_1} a_e \nabla
\varphi(u_e)\cdot \overrightarrow{n}_{1}=\int_{\Omega_1}f
\]

Anyway, corporate social disclosure in paper-based reporting has
been analysed in many research papers that have contributed from
different perspectives to its interpretation \cite{30}. Some of
them have been focused in the analysis of environmental management
strategies. The European Business Environmental Barometer Reports
(EBEB) are among the most important surveys in European countries
to analyse the state of the art in environmental management
strategies. The questionnaire of these surveys has been applied to
European countries to get some interesting findings about this
topic. For instance, in the EBEB 1997/1998, while the industrial
response pattern to environmental challenges in French firms
involve mainly reactive and corrective actions, although a more
receptive response pattern began to emerge, in Irish firms, the
response of companies to the environmental challenge was mixed.
This way, many Irish firms appear to appreciate the importance of
environmental management within the day-to-day management of the
company operations, but too many do not translate their cognitive
awareness into environmental actions.
\begin{equation}
\sum_{i=1}^n\int_{t_{i-1}}^{t_i}(\Vert f(t)-
f_i\Vert_{L^1(\Omega)}+ \Vert g(t)- g_i\Vert_{L^1(\Gamma_N)})dt\le
\lambda
\end{equation}

In the last EBEB report applied to Great Britain and Germany (EBEB
2001), relatively large similarities have been revealed with regard
to observable environmental routines, the major stakeholders
influencing adoption of such routines and obstacles to the adoption
of routines. Nonetheless, the way organisations in both countries
address these pressures through initial and gradually more
systematic environmental routines that can be aggregated to
empirically identified environmental strategies is, in contrast,
quite different between the two countries \cite{29}.
\begin{equation}
\frac{dU}{dt}+{\cal A}_e U = H(.,U)\enskip\hbox{ on }(0,T),\quad
U(0)=U_0:=(u_0,0).
\end{equation}

Other research papers have approached the topic of environmental
disclosures by companies. The majority of these studies appear to
be from North America, Australia, the UK, Canada and, finally,
Nordic countries. Some studies considered the effects of
environmental disasters by companies. Another topic on
environmental reporting has been focused in comparisons across
industries of environmental reporting and disclosure provided by
firms. In fact, these studies have driven to the most
environmentally sensitive sectors of the economy such as electric
utility industry, chemical industry, socially responsible
investment sector, mining and mineral industries or water industry.

Other studies examined the general quality of environmental
disclosures in 10k and annual reports, finding that many firms did
not provide any discussion of corporate environmental philosophy or
environmental disclosures. The relationship with financial
performance and market reaction has been another main feature in
corporate environmental performance. Finally, several research
papers have been conducted to know the state of the art of
corporate environmental disclosures in paper-based reporting in
some countries as well as to emphasise differences on environmental
disclosures between firms in an international context. In Table 2,
an overview of the major findings of these latter research papers
is summarised.

\section*{Acknowledgements}

The authors would like to acknowledge the many helpful suggestions
of two anonymous reviewers and the participants of the 2003 EAA
Conference on earlier versions of this paper. We also thank
Professor P.L. Joshi, the Editor.

\proof{Sadfsdfds} sadsadfsadfds

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\end{document}
