会计信息披露外文文献翻译.docx

会计信息披露外文文献翻译.docx

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文献出处：

EbimoboweiA.AStudyofSocialAccountingDisclosuresintheAnnualReportsofNigerianCompanies[J].AsianJournalofBusinessManagement,2011,3（3）:

145-151.

原文

AStudyofSocialAccountingDisclosuresintheAnnualReportsofNigerianCompanies

AppahEbimobowei

Abstract:

Socialaccountingisconcernedwiththedevelopmentofmeasurementsystemtomonitorsocialperformance.Itisrationalassessmentofanddisclosureonsomemeaningfuldomainofcompanies’activitiesthathavesocialimpact.ThisstudyexaminesthepracticeofsocialaccountingdisclosureinNigeriancompanies.FortycompaniesfromeightsectorsquotedintheNigerianStockExchangewererandomlysampled.Datawerecollectedfromtheannualreportsofthecompanies’fortheperiod2005to2007andthelevelofdisclosureismeasuredusingcontentanalysisanddescriptiveanalysis.Thepaperfoundthat82.5%ofthecompaniessampledpresentsocialaccountinginformationintheirannualreports.TheresultsshowthatNigeriancompaniesprefertodisclosesocialaccountinginformationintheDirectorsReport,Chairman’sStatementandNotestotheAccountsintheformofshortqualitativeinformation.Humanresources,communityinvolvementandenvironmentwereidentifiedasthemostpopularthemes.Hence,thepaperrecommendsamongothersthatcompaniesshouldtakesocialaccountingasamoralduty;legislationforallcompaniestodisclosesocialaccountinginformationinNigeria;socialindicatorstobedeveloped at the national level inthe area of employmentopportunities,environmentalcontrol,energyconservation,healthcareetcandprofessionalaccountingbodiesinthecountryshouldcollaboratetoexpandresearchinsocialaccounting.

Keywords:

Annualreports,socialaccounting,socialdisclosure,Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Theincreasingneedforeveryorganizationtodiscloseintheirannualreportsthevariousactivitiesthataffectthesocietyisbecomingaveryfundamentalissueallovertheworldmostlyindevelopedeconomies,butthisisnotthecaseindevelopingcountrieslikeNigeria.Thisisbecauseorganizationsareparticularlymoreinterestedintheprofitmaximizationobjectivetothedetrimentofthesociety.AccordingtoIyoha （2010）,indevelopingcountries,the concernisabout howefficientorganizationsareintermsofhowmuchprofitsaremadeandhowmuchdividendsarepaid.Noseriousthoughtsaregiventosocialissuesintheannualreportsoforganizationssuchasenvironmentalprotection,energysavings,fairbusinesspractice,andcommunityinvolvementsetc.Asechemie（1996）stressthattheabsenceoffinancialdatarelatingtoactionsandarrangementsforsocialconcerninNigeriaisnotinaccordwiththetrendintheUSA,EuropeandCanadawherecompaniesarerequiredtoreportontheeffectofcompliancewithlawsgoverningcorporatesocialconductoncapitalexpenditures,earningsandcompetitiveposition.

TheobjectiveofthispaperistoexaminethesocialaccountingdisclosuresintheannualreportsofNigeriancompanies.Therefore,thecontentofannualreportsmustprovideinformationtousersrelatingtosocialfactors.AsMathews（2002）suggestedinhisstudy,documentingandanalyzingwhatisdisclosedintheareaofsocialaccountingshouldbeoneofthefeatureofcorporatesocialreporting.Hence,thisstudyattemptstoanswertwomainquestions:

（i）whatarethemostpopulartypesofsocialaccountingandhowissocialaccountingdisclosedintheannualreportsofcompaniesinNigeriaand（ii）whereisthelocationofpresentationofsocialaccountingintheannualreportsofcompaniesinNigeria.Toachievethisobjective,thepaperisdividedintofivesections.Thenextsectiondiscussesthetheoreticalandempiricalliteraturesadoptedforthestudy.Sectionthreeexaminesthemethodologyofthestudy;sectionfourexaminesthefindingsanddiscussionswhilethelastsectiondealswiththeconclusionandrecommendations.

Theoriesoncorporatesocialaccountingdisclosurebehavior:

Grayetal.（1995）inOrij（2007）providedamuchcitedcategorizationofsocialaccounting

disclosurestudies.Theytalkedaboutthreebroadclassificationsofdecisionusefulnessstudies,economictheoryandsocialandpoliticaltheory.Thedecisionusefulnessgenerallyrelatestotheusefulnessofaccountinginformation,whichissocialaccountinginthiscase.Thesestudiesareoftwotypes,rankingofinformationonitsperceiveddecision-usefulnessinthefinancialcommunityandinvestigationsofinformationoneffectsonshareprices.TheeconomictheorystudiesareaperipheryofagencytheoryandPositiveAccountingTheory（PAT）research.Thesocialandpoliticaltheoryfocusesonlegitimacytheory（LEGT）andstakeholdertheory（STAKT）.LEGTandSTAKTaretheoriesdevelopedoutofpoliticaleconomies.Theyareoverlappingperspectivesinapolitical-economicframework.Intheoreticalterm,GuthrieandParker（1990）alsoanalysetheirempiricalevidenceinrelationtoasocio-politicaleconomytheoryofsocialdisclosureandsuggestthat:

apoliticaleconomytheoryofsocialdisclosureisbothviableandmaycontribute

towardourunderstandingofobserveddevelopmentsinnationalreportingpractices.Corporatesocialdisclosureshaveappearedtoreflectpublicsocialpriorities,respondtogovernmentpressures,accommodateenvironmentalpressuresandsectionalinterests,andprotectcorporateprerogativesandprojectedcorporateimage.

Priorempiricalstudies:

Anumberofstudieshavebeenpublishedonthesubjectofsocialaccountingdisclosure.Anumberoftheserelyoncontentanalysisofannualreports.Thereareseveraldifferentmethodstotheanalysisofnarrativesinannualreports.Bettieetal.（2004）distinguishtwocategories:

subjective（analystratings）andsemi-objective（disclosureindexstudies,contentanalysis,readabilitystudiesandlinguisticanalysis）.Contentanalysishasbeenselectedforthisstudybecauseithasbeenwidelyusedintheaccountingresearch,particularlyinsocialaccountingdisclosurestudies.Sincethisisthemethodofanalysisinthepresentstudy,welimitourreviewtothesestudies.Table1summarythemethodology,sampleandmainresultsofthesestudies.

RESULTSANDDISCUSSION

Levelofsocialaccountingdisclosure:

Table2showsthat33companies（82.5%）fromvariousindustrygroupingsmadesocialaccountingdisclosuresatleastforone

yearintheirannualreports.Analysisbasedonindustry,showedthatchemicalandpaints,constructionandpetroleummarketinghad100percentdisclosureofsocialaccountinginformation.Thelowestlevelofsocialaccountinginformationwas66.7%contributedbyBreweriesandconglomeratewhilecompaniesinthebuildingmaterials（75%）,food/beveragesandtobacco（80%）,andhealthcare（83.3%）levelofdisclosurefromyear2005to2007.Therefore,itcanbededucedthatthereisagrowingconcernforcompaniesreportingsocialperformanceintheirfinancialstatements.

Formofsocialaccountingdisclosure:

Table3showsthatin200575%ofthecompaniesdisclosesocialaccountinginformationusingnarrative/picturesand25%disclosewithmonetaryformats.Theyear200681%usednarrativeand19%usedmonetaryformatwhilein200784%usednarrativeand16%monetaryformat.However,therewerealsocompaniesthatusedbothnarrativeandmonetaryformatsofdisclosure.Manycompanieswerealsofoundtohaveusedthemonetaryformattodisclosehumanresourceinformationandenvironmentalcontributionprimarilyrelatedtoretirementbenefit,traininganddevelopmentandsomecommunitybasedprojectssuchasadoptingschool,scholarshipsanddonations.

Locationofsocialaccountingdisclosure:

Table4showsthat4（12.12%）ofthesampledcompanies（Appendix）disclosesocialaccountinginformationinthechairman’sstatement;17（51.52%）disclosesocialaccountinginformationinthedirectorsreport;2（6.06%）inthestatementofaccountingpolicy;10（30.30%）inthenotestotheaccounts.ThepaperdiscoversthatDirectorsreportisthemostpopularlocationwheresocialaccountinginformationisdisclosedbycompaniesinNigeriaandalsothe“notestotheaccounts”.ThisresultisalsoconsistentwithMamman（2004）studythatDirectorsreportisthemostpreferredlocationofsocialaccountinginformation.

Quantificationofamountofsocialaccountingdisclosure:

Thisstudyusedonlynumberofdisclosureastheapproachofcapturingdatathroughcontentanalysis.Almostallcompaniesdisclosedsocialaccountinginformationinshortqualitativediscussionandsomehaveextendedqualitativediscussionwheretheyhavesectionstodisclosethesocialaccountinginformationespeciallyonhumanresourcesand

communitybasedprojects.

Trendofsocialaccountingdisclosure:

Table5showsthetrendofsocialaccountingdisclosuresinNigeria.Twelve（12）companiesrepresenting（36.36%）revealsthathumanresourcesisthetrendofsocialaccountingdisclosureintheannualreport;twocompaniesrepresenting（6.06%）saysthetrendis fairbusinesspractice;nine（9）companiesrepresenting（27.27%）suggestscommunitydevelopment;three（3）companiesrepresenting（9.09%）revealsthatthetrendofsocialaccountingisenergy;five（5）companiesrepresenting（15.16%）intheirannualreportsdisclosedthatthetrendisontheenvironment;andtwo

（2）companiesrepresenting（6.06%）disclosedintheirannualreportsthatthetrendsisontheorganization’sproducts.Theanalysisthereforerevealsthatdisclosureofsocialandenvironmentalactivitiesisspecificallyonthediscretionofthecompanies.

CONCLUSIONANDRECOMMENDATION

Thestudyexaminedsocialaccountingdisclosureforathree-yearperiodfrom2005to2007.Thetypeofsocialaccountingdisclosure,formandlocationwereidentifie