Code of ethics versus annual report: Analysis of environmental disclosures

This paper compares environmental disclosure in Codes of Ethics and in Annual Reports. On the basis of a sample of 197 Italian listed firms, research findings reveal that firm size, capital intensity and industry classification are positively associated with the level of environmental disclosure in both documents. We also examine environmental disclosure by exploring the consistency between the information presented in the two documents. Disclosure consistency is defined as the logarithm of the level of environmental disclosure in the Annual Reports divided by the level presented in the Code of Ethics. It is found that disclosure consistency is positively associated with firm size and capital intensity. Industry classification and ownership dispersion also affect disclosure consistency when firm subsamples are considered.