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The materiality of environmental information to users of annual reports

Craig Deegan (University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia)
Michaela Rankin (University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 1 October 1997

13072

Abstract

Reports on the results of a survey of various groups of annual report users as to the importance, or “materiality”, of environmental information to decisions they may wish to make. Also investigates how environmental information is ranked in importance relative to various other items of social and financial information. The user groups surveyed comprise shareholders, accounting academics, stockbrokers and financial analysts, financial institutions, environmental lobby groups, industry associations and other groups performing a review or oversight function. Reports the results which indicate that the majority of the annual report users surveyed believe environmental information to be material to their decisions, and that they seek the disclosure of this information in corporate annual reports. Although the results show that the users typically believe that environmental information is material, they further indicate that the majority of the user groups rank environmental information behind traditional financial information such as profits, net assets, cash flows, and dividend payments.

Keywords

Citation

Deegan, C. and Rankin, M. (1997), "The materiality of environmental information to users of annual reports", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 562-583. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579710367485

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1997, MCB UP Limited

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