What is the nature and extent of environmental disclosures by listed companies on the Irish Stock Exchange within the Food and Drinks sector

Abstract

In April 2008, Terence O’Rourke, Managing Partner of KPMG in Ireland spoke at a presentation on Accounting for Sustainability to the Annual Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) and said that, “The phrase ‘Accounting for Sustainability’, is slowly but surely starting to enter the lexicon of business. The environmental impact of business has been widely recognised for decades; however it’s only in the recent past that any attempt has been made to measure the real social and environmental cost of the continued depletion of scarce resources such as oil and water.” ICAI (2008) Environmental reporting is primarily concerned with companies reporting on the impact it operations have on the environment and how the company is reducing this impact. This research found that the nature of environmental disclosures of listed companies on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) within the Food and Drinks Sector are not as comprehensive as those of other Sectors of the ISE. Furthermore, this research found that the extent of their environmental disclosures goes no further than environmental mission statements, small amounts of quantitative data, and listed accreditations and certificates companies had received with regard to their environmental practices. Despite the number of companies within this Sector disclosing environmental information within their Annual Reports increasing over the past eight years, the quality of information disclosed has not greatly improved. Additionally, this dissertation investigated the perceptions of senior management of the ISE listed companies within the Food and Drinks Sector with regard to environmental reporting. The researcher made recommendations as to how companies and the Government can increase and improve the level of environmental reporting, both within the Food and Drinks Sector and in other Sectors of the ISE. The researcher in light of the findings, also made suggestions for further areas of research.