Could Corporate Environmental Reporting Shadow Financial Reporting?

This paper reports the findings of a postal questionnaire survey investigating a possible implicit conceptual framework for corporate environmental reporting (CER) in the UK. Attitudes towards several aspects of a possible conceptual framework are surveyed: users; qualitative characteristics; elements; verification; bearing the cost, and; time period and communication. The empirical findings are used to assess the extent to which CER could shadow corporate financial reporting in the UK. A major aspect of the research is to compare the attitudes of three groups of respondents towards a possible implicit conceptual framework for CER in the UK, namely a normative, interested party and company group. Overall, the empirical findings indicate that CER could shadow financial reporting in terms of its implicit conceptual framework, in relation to users, qualitative characteristics, verification, bearing the cost, and time period and communication. An unavoidable difference between CER and financial reporting may be in the area of elements. A clear policy recommendation following these results is that it would be expedient to encourage the shadowing of financial reporting by CER in order to improve the quality and increase the quantity of CER in the UK.