University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

635
The activity of power generation is one of the most socially sensitive activities
because it is carried out with a high impact on the environment. Some of the main
impacts that question the sustainability of the current energy model can be
summarised as (Sundqvist 2004): Environmental problems arising from the
generation, problems arising from the construction of generation facilities and
distribution of electricity through power lines (Hohmeyer 1988; Hohmeyer et al.
1995).
Interest in environmental issues from the point of view of accountancy has expanded
within European Union mainly due to 2 milestones The European Commission’s
Recommendation for the recognition, measurement and disclosure of environmental
aspects into account annually and the annual report of companies, and the Kyoto
Protocol, for regulating the trade in greenhouse gases (Llena et al. 2007). In this
context a framework for promoting corporate social responsibility has been
developed, requiring them not only to act in a socially responsible manner, but also
to be transparent in their dealings with different special interest groups (Hohmeyer
1988).
Economic, social and environmental responsibility by companies makes it necessary
to have environmental information that goes beyond financial reports (Gray et al.
1996). Growing interest among stakeholders in environmental issues is widely spread
in Europe (Bebbington et al. 2000; Aerts et al. 2006). This concern is causing an
even-larger demand for information (DeTienne et al. 2005), to which businesses are
responding either from obligation or voluntarily. (Llena et al. 2007; KPMG 2008).
Such volunteering, which should show differences between companies empirically,
are not being observed; on the contrary a process of isomorphism has been noticed,
reflected in clear and standardized reporting practices between firms (DiMaggio et al.
1983). Companies prefer to use social to use a voluntary report on sustainability
rather than a more concrete environmental information (KPMG 2008). In this way,
they can make use of qualitative and avoid the quantitative data that would show up
the lack the unsustainability of their business (Fernandez et al. 2005). This type of
qualitative information in annual accounts enables them to bias it towards the
positive aspects of their performance (Deegan et al. 1996). This phenomenon is
accentuated in the electricity sector, one with the greatest impact on the
environmental impact where companies, where companies tend to show a positive
social image for their activities, in order to legitimise themselves to society (Moneva
2001).
To prepare sustainability reports, companies tend to follow the the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) guidelines, based on a methodology aimed at providing a set of
indicators based on the demands of stakeholders (Moneva et al. 2000). Gray et al,
(1996) suggest that companies consider social and environmental information to be
complementary to the economic and financial, and use it only as a legitimacy device.
The emergence and increase in the number of additional separate reports disseminate
by companies and dealing with environmental and social issues, enables the
traditional stakeholders (shareholders and investors, customers and suppliers) to
expand towards other, new special interest groups such as society, administration, the
mass media, etc ... (Gray et al. 1996; Adams et al. 2007). A new point of view in
accounting management is being conformed by environmental accounting, this is a
component of the company policy, control and management (Burritt 2004).