Section VI: Organisation Behaviour and Culture

Title: Corporate environmental disclosure in Libya

Author(s): Nassr Saleh M. Ahmad, Morrison Handley-Schachler

Address: Academy of Graduate Studies, School of Management and Financial Sciences, Department of Accounting, Tripoli, Libya | Napier University Business School, School of Accounting, Economics and Statistics, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ, UK

Reference: BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA pp. 295 - 306

Abstract/Summary: This paper examines Corporate Environmental Disclosure (CED) in Libyan companies. In addition to reviewing existing studies, which have tended to neglect both developing countries and smaller businesses and have generally failed to discuss underlying religious, cultural or political reasons for differences in levels of CED, it also examines the evidence of Libyan companies annual reports. It must also be observed that practice in Libya appears to be radically different from that in developed countries, in that there is not only a low level of disclosure generally but also a very low proportion of information reported which shows the company in a good light. A useful future research agenda would be to address the underlying cultural differences reflected in CED practices, to address the causes of accounting absence as well as accounting presence and to provide further information on CED practices in developing countries and smaller businesses.

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