The effects of SAB 92 on corporate environmental disclosures in the chemical and petroleum industries.

摘要

The dissertation investigates the impact of SAB 92 on corporate environmental disclosures of 52 firms from the chemical industry and 40 firms from the petroleum industry. The period of the study includes fiscal years 1992--1995. The study employs a series of observations, one before the introduction of SAB 92 and three after the introduction of SAB 92. For each observation, the content of the environmental disclosures for each firm is analyzed. The study uses three methods of enumeration to measure environmental disclosures: dichotomous variables related to specific disclosures called for in SAB 92, quantity of sentences, and dollar amounts. The findings indicate consistent patterns of increasing frequencies of disclosure for most categories of disclosure investigated. The findings also indicate that the firms investigated are less likely to not disclose than to disclose information both before and after the introduction of SAB 92.