Abstract
Corporate social and environmental disclosure is still evolving and weak in developing countries and to stimulate the practice, many developing countries are putting in place regulations. Code of Corporate Governance for listed companies in Nigeria issued in 2011 mandated certain disclosure. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to assess volume of disclosure by listed Nigerian oil and gas companies six (6) years pre- and six (6) years post the code. Legitimacy theory is employed to underpin the study while corporate characteristics are tested to determine their influence on volume of the disclosure. Modified word count content analysis of annual reports and accounts of sample companies is used to determine volume of disclosure while two sample t-tests give the statistical mean of the disclosure. Panel Corrected Standard Error Regression analysis is used to determine the influence of corporate characteristics on the volume of the disclosure. Results from words counts content analysis indicated 53% increase in volume of social disclosure and 235% increase in volume of environmental disclosure six years post-code over disclosure six years pre-code. Two sample t-tests show that the mean of disclosure six years post code is greater than the mean of disclosure six years pre- code. Panel regression analysis results show that corporate size, have positive and significant relationship with disclosure. Obtained results is perhaps consistent with legitimacy theory.
Highlights
In response to public demands for them to be more socially responsible, corporate organisations resorted to making voluntary social and environmental disclosure on their activities which is reported as increasing over the past decades [1]
1 N100 denotes the largest 100 studied companies by revenues in the 49 countries surveyed while G260 refers to the world’s 260 largest companies by revenue based on the Fortune 600 ranking of 2016 [1]
Breaking the disclosure into social and environmental components indicates 53% increase in volume of social disclosure and 235% increase in volume of environmental disclosure post-regulation
Summary
In response to public demands for them to be more socially responsible, corporate organisations resorted to making voluntary social and environmental disclosure on their activities which is reported as increasing over the past decades [1]. Significant increase in global Social, Environmental and Governance (SEG) reporting in 2017 by surveyed N100 and G260 1 is attributed to regulations by governments and the stock markets [1]. Regulation may be the only driver to push the current stabilising increase in social reporting practices [1]. Corporate social disclosure is acknowledged as voluntary [27]; mandatory requirements have arguably push the practice to current levels and could play significant role in pushing the practices in the future [1]. Grenelle Act of 2009 in France provided for mandatory social and environmental disclosure [9]. It is not surprising that governments and stock markets in developing countries are putting in place regulations to enhance social
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