Sustainability disclosure across DowJones Sustainability Index companies

This paper extends previous studies on corporate social disclosure by concentrating on information released not only on annual reports, but also on other kind of reports such as social reports, environmental reports and sustainability reports. The study examines factors influencing the voluntary disclosure of three types of information (financial, environmental and social) contained in corporate reports. In particular, it compares and contrasts sustainability disclosure practices with respect to the number of firms reporting, amount and type of information released, and country of origin. A scoring procedure is used to examine the scope of sustainability disclosure for 55 companies belonging to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and for 55 companies matched by stock exchange, size and industry.