Analysis on the development of environmental disclosure practices by selected Malaysian companies from 1999 to 2002 / Haslinda Yusoff, Normahiran Yatim and Noraini Mohd Nasir

Issues on environmental accounting and reporting have grasped the attention
of accounting researchers since the 1970s. Continuous researches indicate
the significance of integrating environmental matters in accounting. However,
these initiatives have yet to develop a harmonization acceptance on the
voluntary exercise. This is evidenced by the mixed global practices, with
countries such as Netherlands having made environmental reporting
mandatory, while the US encourage the practices. And in many other parts of
the world, including Malaysia, environmental reporting is still a voluntary
exercise. This study looks at the trend of environmental information disclosed
in the corporate annual reports by selected Malaysian companies for the year
1999 to 2002. The findings revealed that majority of the companies are
improving their environmental disclosure practices from a non-disclosure to
a more qualitative disclosure state. They even started to quantitatively disclose
certain environmental items such as environmental management and product
ecology information. The development also results many companies disclosing
their environmental concerns in a separate section in their annual report.