Effect of Company Characteristics and Corporate Governance on the Quantity of Environmental Disclosure

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of companies' characteristics and corporate governance on the quantity of environmental disclosure. The population of this study was listed companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in the year of 2017. This study used the top 100 companies on the ASX by the highest market capitalisation as samples. All companies included and represented on the ASX 100 index and used multiple regression analysis as analysis technique. The results indicates that company size, industrial type had a significant positive effect on environmental disclosure. This study also concludes that companies that fall into the category of sensitive industry disclose more environmental information than companies that fall into the category of non-sensitive industries. Furthermore, this finding can help regulators draft appropriate laws for the industry regarding specific environmental disclosure practices and conduct environmental performance assessments on companies, to assess the extent to which companies have been responsible for the environmental impacts caused by their operations.