Social Disclosure and the Individual Investor

The demand for social information by individual investors is supported by the survey reported in this study. Based on the results of the 1991 survey on the usefulness of annual reports to corporate shareholders, there appears to be a strong demand for information about product safety and quality, and about the company′s environmental activities. Furthermore, a majority of the shareholders surveyed also want the company to report on corporate ethics, employee relations and community involvement. Since there appears to be a strong demand for social information by shareholders, serious consideration should be given to requiring certain social disclosures in annual reports. Furthermore, a large minority of those surveyed would like these disclosures to be audited. It may be in the interest of the auditing profession actively to support those areas of social disclosure that it feels comfortable auditing and to develop the skills to provide such audits. If not, the profession may find itself in the position of being required to attest to something for which it has no expertise.