Title: The influence of financial situation on environmental information disclosure in China's chemical industry

Authors: Junrui Zhang, Huiting Guo, Bin Li, Wei Wang

Addresses: The School of Management, Xi'an Jiaotong University, West Xianning Road, No. 28, Xi'an, 710049 Shaanxi, PR China. ' The School of Management, Xi'an Jiaotong University, West Xianning Road, No. 28, Xi'an, 710049 Shaanxi, PR China. ' The School of Management, Xi'an Jiaotong University, West Xianning Road, No. 28, Xi'an, 710049 Shaanxi, PR China. ' The School of Management, Xi'an Jiaotong University, West Xianning Road, No. 28, Xi'an, 710049 Shaanxi, PR China

Abstract: From the perspective of voluntary disclosure, this paper examines empirically the impact of specific corporate financial factors on environment voluntary disclosure. Using a sample of 138 chemical industry listed companies in China, we find that more and more companies disclose environment information, which illustrates the enhanced awareness of corporate social environment. Our findings also show that firm|s size and ROE have stronger impact than debt to asset ratio and growth rate on the behaviour of the disclosure of environmental information. The result indicates that larger companies and those with better profitability are more likely to disclose environmental information.

Keywords: sustainable development; environmental information; environmental accounting; environmental pollution; accounting disclosure; financial situation; sustainability; China; chemical industry; voluntary disclosure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2009.026948

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2009 Vol.9 No.3, pp.272 - 286

Published online: 09 Jul 2009 *

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