Eco-affecting Reporting Practices of Publicly Traded Engineering Companies in Bangladesh

Based on corporate characteristics, this study explored the extent and nature of eco-affecting information reporting practices of publicly listed engineering companies in the context of an emerging economy. Data collected from annual reports of the purposively selected companies in the `Engineering Sector' of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) applying a self-developed reporting index consisted of 38 reporting items. The study found that the average eco-affecting information disclosed by the sample firms was only 12.81% of the disclosure checklist, and that was descriptive in nature. The highest disclosed issue was environmental concern and policies (25%), while the lowest was environmental performance (3.81%). The most revealing is that 13.33% of the sample companies did not disclose any eco-affecting information in their annual reports. The study found that firms' visibility proxied by their total assets showed a significant positive effect on the extent of eco-affecting information disclosure. Contrarily, business experience proxied by firms' age showed a negative impact on eco-affecting information disclosure. Other explanatory variables, viz., firm category, leverage, profitability, and ownership stake of the state have an insignificant effect on eco-affecting information disclosure. The findings of this paper will help the policymakers and regulators frame environmental policies and regulations -considering the potential impact of different corporate characteristics-related explanatory variables on environmental reporting. The study is unique as the sample has accepted a specific manufacturing industry instead of mixing industry categories. The study considered `Company Category' as an explanatory variable for the first time. Besides, the study has included two new disclosure items, viz. environmental slogan/dialogue and rainwater harvesting (RWH), which have been missing in prior literature. (C) 2022 L&H Scientific Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.