An Investigation of the Initial Voluntary Environmental Disclosures Made in Korean Semi-Annual Financial Reports

Abstract

In 1997, a group of Korean companies listed on the Korean Stock Exchange disclosed environmental information in their 1997 semi-annual financial reports, which was the first incidence of corporate social and environmental disclosure made in financial reports in Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine these initial environmental disclosures in terms of their quality and quantity and to test for possible relationships between the propensity to disclose and a variety of corporate characteristics. Content analysis is conducted to evaluate the overall standards of disclosure and then a variety of association tests are performed to determine whether the propensity to disclose is associated with selected corporate characteristics. Using a sample of disclosing and non-disclosing firms, I find that industry type and firm size are significantly associated with the propensity to disclose. When the analysis is confined within the discloser group only, financial leverage emerges as a significant explanatory variable for the level of disclosure especially in high-profile industries.

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