Determinants of social and environmental disclosures in Sri Lankan listed companies.

Abstract

Social and Environmental disclosure is a recent trend of reporting practice of the firms which present not only the financial information but also the social information. Objectives of the study are to identify the extent and types of social and environmental disclosures of Sri Lankan public listed companies and examine the determinants of social and environmental disclosure of listed companies. By reviewing 296 companies’ annual reports published in recent year, out of them, 34% of (100) companies were selected by using proportionate stratified random sampling according to business sector as a sample to carry out the study. A checklist was prepared according to GRI guideline (version 3) to score the data. Descriptive statistics and Bivariate test were used to analyze the study. Overall results of the descriptive study illustrate that there is low level of social and environmental disclosure practice exists in Sri Lankan listed companies. Result of the correlation indicates that Age of the firm negatively correlated with social and environmental disclosure. While Firm Size, profit and leverage are week positively related with social and environmental disclosure. It is concluded that Firm Size, Profit, and Leverage determine the level of social and environmental disclosure. The findings from this research could provide relevant insights to the Sri Lankan listed companies.