ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING IN FINLAND - A NOTE ON THE USE OF ANNUAL-REPORTS

This paper analyses changes in corporate environmental reporting practices among large Finnish firms in the past five years. Using content analysis of annual reports, we analysed the willingness of firms to disclose environmental information in the years 1987 and 1992. Our sample consisted of 75 Finnish corporations drawn from the largest firms in the most environmentally sensitive industries. Our results indicate marked changes in environmental reporting practices between 1987 and 1992. In 1987, slightly over one quarter of the firms analysed disclosed environmental information in their annual reports, while in 1992 this number had risen to nearly one half of firms. Most of this disclosure was in qualitative, rather than in quantitative or financial, form. The results are consistent with earlier studies, which indicated that environmental reporting was a feature of firms in certain industrial sectors. We conclude by noting the influence of environmentalism on Finnish corporate environmental reporting, policy and accounting practice.