An empirical investigation of determinants of sustainability report assurance in France

Sellami, Yosra Mnif; Hlima, Nada Dammak Ben; Jarboui, Anis

doi:10.1108/jfra-02-2018-0019

Cited by 50 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 107 publications

(176 reference statements)

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“…Recent years have witnessed a worldwide increase in the publication of sustainability reports (Radhouane et al, 2020;Sellami et al, 2019;Jones et al, 2015;KPMG, 2013). The growth in the publication of such reports can be attributed to stakeholders" increasing interest in sustainability information (of which climate change-related information is a part) (Datt et al, 2019;Wong et al, 2016) and the consequent awareness of companies of their responsibility for sustainability (Gillet-Monjarret, 2018;Jones et al, 2015).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of external assurance on corporate climate change disclosures: new evidence from Finland

Dutta

2020

JAAR

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PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the impact of external assurance on the level of voluntary corporate climate change disclosures by Finnish firms.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of this study includes 228 firm-year observations over the period 2008–2015 for listed Finnish companies that have issued sustainability reports and responded to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire at least once during the sample period. The authors conduct a panel regression analysis to study the afore-mentioned linkage. In addition, the Tobit regression model is also estimated to check the robustness of our findings.FindingsThe findings suggest that assurance has a highly significant positive impact on the level of corporate climate change disclosures even after controlling for the effect of a number of control variables. Moreover, among the control variables, firm size and asset age are found to have significant effect on the extent of carbon emissions disclosure. Furthermore, the additional analysis reveals that the type of assurance providers (accounting firms vs non-accounting firms) and the type of financial auditors (Big4 financial auditors vs non-Big4 financial auditors) do not influence the level of climate change disclosure of assured companies.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is subject to certain limitations. First, the source of the data used in this research is the CDP database which has limitations in that it is a voluntary disclosure process where all the observations collected are self-reported by the responding firms. This may bias the reported findings. Second, our sample includes only listed companies and hence the results might have limited explanatory capacity for unlisted firms.Practical implicationsBy using the results of this research, corporate managers will be able to reduce the information asymmetry between various stakeholders and them through disclosure of accurate, reliable and credible environmental information. Such disclosures will, in turn, allow socially responsible investors to choose eco-friendly investments and will thus enable them to make appropriate investment decisions.Originality/valueResearch on the external assurance-corporate climate change disclosure nexus is scarce. This study addresses this gap in the nonfinancial disclosure assurance literature by demonstrating that external assurance increases the level of voluntary corporate climate change disclosure. Drawing on stakeholder-agency theory, this study views external assurance as a monitoring structure that potentially curbs the monitoring problem between corporate managers and other stakeholders and increases the amount of climate change disclosures making a possible avenue for the reduction of the information asymmetry between them.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of external assurance on corporate climate change disclosures: new evidence from Finland

Dutta

2020

JAAR

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“…The disclosure of environmental information in a voluntary and transparent manner is of fundamental importance to CSR practitioners (Mnif Sellami et al, 2019;Clarkson et al, 2013). In previous studies, it has been noted that several factors may influence the disclosure of environmental information and its verification by an independent third party organization, while mentioning the existence of the CSR committee (Gillet-Monjarret and Martinez, 2012;Gupta and Agrawal, 2014;Mahmood et al, 2018;Mnif Sellami et al, 2019;Ramesh and Mendes, 2015;Rupley et al, 2012). As an essential component of governance, CSR Committee has become unavoidable, since it serves to improve the quality of environmental reporting and credibility through environmental auditing that has part of the answer to strengthening the credibility of this reporting (Riviere-Giordano, 2007).…”

Section: The Csr Committeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As an essential component of governance, CSR Committee has become unavoidable, since it serves to improve the quality of environmental reporting and credibility through environmental auditing that has part of the answer to strengthening the credibility of this reporting (Riviere-Giordano, 2007). Mnif Sellami et al (2019) demonstrate that the presence of a CSR committee within the management board has an effect on the demand for sustainability assurance. Mahmood et al (2018) show that there is a positive relationship between the presence of a CSR committee and the extent of reporting on environmental sustainability.…”

Section: The Csr Committeementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Audit and Environmental Disclosure Quality

Virgilio

2020

SAEB

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In this study we explore the association between environmental audit and the quality of environmental disclosure as measured by voluntary and timely disclosure. Relying on a multiple theory framework and using a sample of 81 French non-financial companies listed on the SBF 120 index covering the six-year period from 2012 to 2017, we found a positive and statistically significant relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure of environmental information and the environmental audit committee, the environmental auditor's BIG 4, debt levels, firm size, earnings management, and the industry. In addition, findings indicate that the environmental audit committee, CSR committee, the environmental auditor's BIG 4, earnings management, firm size, and the industry have an impact on the timely disclosure of environmental information. However, the regression of the results showed that there is no relationship between CSR committee and the level of the voluntary disclosure of environmental disclosure.

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“…The researchers were quick to take the plunge and studied the concept of environmental external assurance that is gaining ground in the financial and non-financial landscape, and clearly demonstrate that this term is particularly linked to the existence of an environmental audit committee (Peters and Romi, 2014 […]) and a CSR committee (Mahmood et al , 2018; Mnif Sellami et al , 2019; […]), as well as large firms mainly represented by Big4 (Abba et al , 2018; Iatridis, 2013; Joshi et al , 2011 […]).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reporting of environmental information in a voluntary and transparent manner is of fundamental importance to CSR practitioners (Clarkson et al , 2013; Mnif Sellami et al , 2019). In previous studies, it has been noted that several factors may influence the reporting of environmental information and its verification by an independent third-party organization while mentioning the existence of the CSR committee (Gupta and Agrawal, 2014; Mahmood et al , 2018; Mnif Sellami et al , 2019; Gillet-Monjarret and Martinez, 2012; Ramesh and Mendes, 2015; Rupley et al , 2012 […]).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

An empirical investigation of factors influencing the environmental reporting quality: evidence from France

Moalla

Salhi

Jarboui

2020

SRJ

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Purpose This study empirically tests a comprehensive set of relevant factors to explain environmental reporting quality. This study aims to understand whether environmental assurance has a direct effect on “environmental reporting quality”. In addition, this study also aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the quality of environmental reporting as measured by voluntary and timely reporting. Design/methodology/approach A number of econometric techniques are used including panel data specifications using a sample of French listed companies in SBF120 for the period 2012–2017. Findings The results demonstrate that the presence of an environmental audit committee and the size of the environmental external assurance firm has a significant effect on the level of voluntary reporting of environmental information. The results also reveal that the presence of the environmental audit committee, as well as the corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee, the size of the environmental external assurance and corporate governance index, affect the timely environmental reporting. Research limitations/implications This study helps all market participants to more comprehensively evaluate the quality of environmental reporting in the French context and highlights whether various factors could affect the quality of the environmental information disclosed using a multi-theoretical framework. Originality/value This paper fills the gap in the literature by highlighting an unexplored field of literature about the quality of environmental reporting by linking on the division of the quality of environmental information reporting into sub-dimensions (voluntary reporting and timely reporting) in the French context. To the knowledge, no empirical study has been done on the timely reporting of environmental information in the French context or other contexts. The originality of the work consists of the fact that it is one of the first works that deal with the relationship between environmental external assurance, corporate governance and the quality of environmental reporting.

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An empirical investigation of determinants of sustainability report assurance in France

Cited by 50 publications

References 107 publications

Impact of external assurance on corporate climate change disclosures: new evidence from Finland

Impact of external assurance on corporate climate change disclosures: new evidence from Finland

Environmental Audit and Environmental Disclosure Quality

An empirical investigation of factors influencing the environmental reporting quality: evidence from France

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