The increased activities of

This study aims to document the environmental disclosure practices in the Arab Spring countries, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. These countries have been witnessed a changes in governance systems as a result of massive popular revolutions in 2011 in what became known revolutions of the Arab Spring. These revolutions have been influenced on political and legal systems and economic development of these countries. As a result, due of the accounting system interacts with surrounding systems; the changes of systems may affect the accounting system thus accounting practices, including environmental disclosure practices that may be affected. Therefore, this paper seeks to document the environmental disclosure practices in the oil companies for the three years that preceded the Arab Spring revolution. As result, it will contribute in comparisons for the accounting practices of companies after the success of the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Content analysis and environmental disclosure index are used to measure the quantity and quality of environmental disclosure in companies operating in the oil sector. This study included the annual reports for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The results of the study indicated low accounting information contained in the annual reports before Arab spring.

Purpose Over the past few decades, accounting research has received considerable attention from academics and researchers in an effort to understand and interpret accounting events in firms. Environmental disclosure research is featured in those studies because of its effect on the number of groups within society where companies operate. Therefore, many studies, especially in developing countries, have been conducted in order to interpret and reach an understanding of the determinants of disclosure in companies through using accounting and social theories. In the Middle East and North Africa, a substantial number of accounting studies have been undertaken aimed at addressing the environmental disclosure in companies. The purpose of this paper is to examine these studies conducted in the Middle East and North Africa in order to establish an overview of the theoretical approach in the interpretation of the environmental disclosure in companies. Design/methodology/approach Review of studies of the environmental disclosure in the Gulf region and North Africa by focusing on a theoretical method that interpreted the environmental disclosure. Findings Studies have shown a difference in the theoretical interpretation of the environmental disclosure with emphasis on the theory of stakeholder, the most common in such studies. Originality/value The value of this study is to add to the accounting literature in this area which, thus, is considered as a starting point for future studies on the most important theories used in the interpretation of environmental disclosure in the Gulf region and North Africa.