Características do disclosure ambiental de empresas brasileiras potencialmente poluidoras: análise das demonstrações financeiras e dos relatórios de sustentabilidade do período de 2005 a 2007

Abstract

This paper aims to identify characteristics of Brazilian companies’ voluntary environmental disclosure. The research was driven through an analysis of Standardized Financial Statements (Demonstrações Financeiras Padronizadas -DFPs) and Sustainability Reports (Relatórios de Sustentabilidade -RS) from 2005 to 2007. The analyzed group is composed by Brazilian companies whose stocks are listed in Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo- BOVESPA) and belong to the high environmental impact sector. The authors use the qualitative approach of Content Analysis to search and analyze parameters like “type of evidence”, “type of news”, “temporal reference” and “location of the disclosure”. Results show that companies, over the period of analysis, disclosed 6.182 sentences related to environmental questions, 73% of them published in their RS and 27% in their DFPs. It is perceived that the largest part of analyzed disclosure is declarative and positive and doesn’t have specified temporal references. It is concluded that the research corroborates the Voluntary Disclosure Theory, since companies voluntarily did not disclose much negative information about their environmental practices.