Environmental disclosures in the annual reports of large companies in Spain

The objective of this paper is to analyse the environmental reporting practices found in the annual reports published by companies operating in Spain, as well as to determine the evolution of these practices during the period 1992–4, on the basis of stakeholder theory. In order to carry out this analysis, we have examined the annual reports of seventy large companies operating in industries considered to be sensitive for the environment. The reporting practices have been grouped into a number of categories, as follows: type of environmental reporting provided; sections of the annual report devoted to environmental reporting; corporate environmental policies and projects; natural environment protection activities and achievements; and disclosure of environmental data in the annual accounts. Finally, we have considered whether the fact that a company is quoted on the stock market, or that a parent company is foreign-based, or that it belongs to a regulated sector, are differentiating factors with respect to environmental reporting behaviour. The main conclusions are as follows: The environmental reporting of these sample companies has a fundamentally narrative character, although there has been an increase in both quantitative and financial reporting, as well as in the number of companies that are reporting. The factors analysed do not allow us to detect significant differences, except for whether the parent company is foreign-based. As a consequence, there is no significant evidence that during the period analysed the environmental reporting behaviour of Spanish company management has tried to satisfy their stakeholders.