An empirical investigation of factors influencing the environmental reporting quality: evidence from France

Abstract

Purpose This study empirically tests a comprehensive set of relevant factors to explain environmental reporting quality. This study aims to understand whether environmental assurance has a direct effect on “environmental reporting quality”. In addition, this study also aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the quality of environmental reporting as measured by voluntary and timely reporting. Design/methodology/approach A number of econometric techniques are used including panel data specifications using a sample of French listed companies in SBF120 for the period 2012–2017. Findings The results demonstrate that the presence of an environmental audit committee and the size of the environmental external assurance firm has a significant effect on the level of voluntary reporting of environmental information. The results also reveal that the presence of the environmental audit committee, as well as the corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee, the size of the environmental external assurance and corporate governance index, affect the timely environmental reporting. Research limitations/implications This study helps all market participants to more comprehensively evaluate the quality of environmental reporting in the French context and highlights whether various factors could affect the quality of the environmental information disclosed using a multi-theoretical framework. Originality/value This paper fills the gap in the literature by highlighting an unexplored field of literature about the quality of environmental reporting by linking on the division of the quality of environmental information reporting into sub-dimensions (voluntary reporting and timely reporting) in the French context. To the knowledge, no empirical study has been done on the timely reporting of environmental information in the French context or other contexts. The originality of the work consists of the fact that it is one of the first works that deal with the relationship between environmental external assurance, corporate governance and the quality of environmental reporting.