Title: Environment information comparability: a case of the selected, listed Polish companies

Authors: Ewelina Kuberska; Marek Kawacki

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Financial Audit, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland ' Department of Accounting and Financial Audit, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to measure the current and potential comparability of the environmental information disclosed in the reports of the Polish, industrial companies indexed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The research methods used are: descriptive analysis, text analysis and statistical methods (Mann-Whitney U test). The result of the study shows that comparability of the environmental information between companies is severely limited due to different types and forms of information, or even lacks of certain disclosures, even among the companies from the same industry and that use the same non-financial information standards. Comparability of environmental information may potentially be improved in the future based on the increased use of numerical data (instead of narrative information) and standardised indicators (like GRI 302-1, 303-1 and 306-2), which are commonly disclosed in the companies that were a part of this study.

Keywords: non-financial information reporting; comparability of information; global reporting initiative; GRI.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2024.138469

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2024 Vol.19 No.2, pp.190 - 206

Received: 31 Aug 2021
Accepted: 27 Jan 2022
Published online: 07 May 2024 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article