Proceedings

DIFFERENCES REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL
REPORTING: THE CASE OF ROMANIAN
ORGANIZATIONS
Ionel-Alin IENCIU 1
Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
ABSTRACT
Since environmental reporting remains voluntary at international level, there are major
differences in terms of the quality and quantity of the environmental information reported by
organizations in different sectors and countries. The main objective of the study is to analyze
the corporate environmental behavior and to suggest factors that explain the quality and
quantity of environmental disclosure within Romanian organizations. The results show that
the environmental information provided by the Romanian organizations is incomplete and
irrelevant for stakeholders. The statistical analysis has demonstrated that environmental
reporting in the case of Romanian organizations is influenced by the size of the entity, by
public exposure and by the structure of the shareholders.
KEYWORDS: environmental reporting, Romanian organizations, performance, public
exposure, size
INTRODUCTION
Since the environmental reporting is a voluntary fact at international level, there are
major differences in terms of the quality and quantity of the environmental
information reported by entities in different sectors and countries. Many studies have
investigated various determinants of companies voluntary disclose practices, but most
of all have been inducted in developed countries such as Germany (Cormier et al.,
2005), UK and US (Holland and Foo, 2003); Australia (Frost, 2007; Deegan and
Rankin, 1996), Spain (Larrinaga et al., 2002; Criado-Jimenez et al., 2007), Canada
(Buhr and Freedman, 2001), Nordic Counties (Nyquist, 2003). Only a few studies
have analyzed environmental reporting within developing countries: Malaysia
(Sumiani et al., 2007), India (Chatterjee and Mir, 2008), Kenya (Dulacha, 2006),
Zimbabwe (Owusu-Ansah, 1998).
The study adds to the literature that analyzes factors that influences voluntary
disclosure in developing countries such as Romania. In the absence of a regulatory
framework regarding environmental reporting the paper analyze the quality of
environmental information disclosed by Romanian organizations and suggest factors
that determine companies from a developing country such Romania to report
environmental information.
1 Correspondence address: Ionel-Alin IENCIU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Economics and
Business Administration, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; email: alinienciu@yahoo.co.uk
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