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nce and to demonstrate society's need for their services. Voluntary disclosure makes the likelihood of opportunistic behaviour greater than under regulated information requirements. However, even mandatory environmental disclosures cannot stop strategic use of voluntary environmental disclosure. Companies may disclose environmental information according to their own self-interest, when future earnings and potential cash flows are negatively affected (Palmer, K., et al, 1995). The reports are more likely to appear as a specific event and the content will vary more widely when regulations are lacking. Environmental disclosure is mostly a legitimacy device and not an accountability mechanism, and according to some authors more legislation is not necessarily required to improve accountability, but rather better review and enforcement are needed. The bottom-line is: regulation of environmental reporting would not lead companies to report on bad news (Perego, P., Hartmann, F., 2009). Pro-voluntary reporting sectors claim that firms in countries with regulations face considerable costs and therefore diminished competitiveness (Porter, M.E., 1991). However, empirical experience has shown that an information strategy of environmental disclosure motivates polluters to reduce emissions, even in the absence of statutory requirements (O'Donovan, G., 2002).

The motivation for statutory requirements is that such regulations will limit adverse environmental impacts. However, there is no consensus as to how regulations affect business. Some authors claim that markets work most efficiently and effectively when there is adequate information. As a consequence, the volume and content of environmental disclosure are important to secure the supply of such information (O'Donovan, G., 2002). The extent of the environmental disclosure and its consequences in business performance will be discussed in the next sections.

为什么环境信息披露?——Why Environmental Disclosure?

It is commonly acknowledged that the main aim of for profit corporations is to generate acceptable returns for their shareholders. Some authors state that large corporations have to satisfy a broader group of interested stakeholders, whose interests are more than just financial. Corporations are social creations and it has been argued that their existence depends on the willingness of society to continue to allow them to operate. The idea of a social contract between business and individual members of society suggests that, while the main aim of a business is to make profits, it also has a moral obligation to act in a socially responsible manner. Management disclosure decisions are linked to a broad range of interconnected political, social and economic influences. Legitimating tactics and public disclosures an organisation makes will differ depending on whether it is trying to gain, maintain or repair legitimacy. The extent to which relationships between these variables exist has not been tested. In this context it is argued that studies about whether voluntary social and environmental annual report disclosures are related to legitimacy motives have, to some extent, stagnated.

降低资本成本——Reduce in Cost of Capital

There is not a homogenous opinion about benefits of environmental investment and, therefore, environmental disclosure. The former US Vice President Al Gore presents the 3M's pollution case study a本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。