Environmental reporting by Indonesian agricultural companies around the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to see if there was a change in the amount of environmental reporting by agricultural firms after the COVID-19 epidemic spread in Indonesia. This study also examines the difference in the degree of environmental reporting between companies that publish sustainability reporting and those that do not in the period pre- and post-COVID-19. In addition, determinant factors for the extent of environmental reporting are also explored. This study utilizes 23 companies as a sample, i.e., the Indonesia Stock Exchange-listed agricultural enterprises in 2019 and 2020. The paired sample t-test results show that environmental reporting rose following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to reporting levels before the pandemic. In addition, the environmental reporting of companies that publish sustainability reporting is significantly higher than that of those that do not. This finding implies that despite the hard time facing COVID-19, the companies keep maintaining incentives to care more about the environment, which is marked by increased environmental reporting. Meanwhile, the factor that affects the amount of environmental exposure is the firm’s size. Hence, a company’s level of environmental reporting will increase as its assets grow in size.