Influence of environmental expenditures and environmental disclosure in the quality of accounting information

摘要

Several models and metrics have been used to measure accounting information as well as various company environmental characteristics, such as standards and incentives, to elaborate and to disclose such information. The disclosure of environmental information can be indicative of high quality in other, disclosed, accounting information. This study aims to assess the influence of expenditures, such as investments in clean technology, training, and process improvement, and environmental disclosure on the quality of accounting information in publicly traded companies. The methodological procedures used in this research classify it as descriptive, document based, and quantitative. The data were collected from Thomson Datastream Index Service and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports, with a final sample of 400 companies divided into two groups: Group 1, with 200 companies, which include those that disclosed their data through the GRI, and Group 2, composed of the other 200 companies, none of which disclosed information through the GRI, and were randomly selected from the countries where the companies belonging to the first group were located. The analysis covered data from the period from 2010 to 2014 and considered two metrics to measure the quality of information: earnings management by accruals and operational decisions and value relevance. For data analysis, panel data regression was carried out. Therefore, environmental actions and the voluntary disclosure of such information, as well as attributes of standards and incentives, were the determinants used for improving the quality of accounting information in the context of the investigated countries.