IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02128271.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

When environmental accounting choices are not only opportunistic: the case of environmental accounting provisions
[Quand les choix comptables liés à l’environnement ne sont pas qu’opportunistes : cas des provisions comptables environnementales]

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Maurice

    (TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse)

Abstract

From an institutional perspective, this paper examines the room for maneuver in estimating environmental provisions. As the decisions of executives and accountants cannot be separated from the social and technical context in which they are made, we conducted a qualitative study of French listed companies to investigate the processes that are involved. Our objective was to determine which factors limit or encourage the opportunistic use of these provisional sums. The analysis of the interview transcripts revealed the impact of institutional pressure (leading to coercive and mimetic isomorphism in choosing the estimation method), which makes discretionary use of environmental provisions more difficult. These results indicate that an analysis has to take into account the specific context of the accounting decision, in addition to the incentives that give rise to it.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Maurice, 2019. "When environmental accounting choices are not only opportunistic: the case of environmental accounting provisions [Quand les choix comptables liés à l’environnement ne sont pas qu’opportunistes : c," Post-Print hal-02128271, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02128271
    DOI: 10.4000/fcs.3197
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02128271
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02128271/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4000/fcs.3197?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    2. Minga Negash, 2012. "IFRS and environmental accounting," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(7), pages 577-601, June.
    3. Lawrence A. Boland & Irene M. Gordon, 1992. "Criticizing positive accounting theory," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 142-170, September.
    4. Matthew Wegener & Réal Labelle, 2017. "Value Relevance of Environmental Provisions Pre‐ and Post‐IFRS," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 139-168, September.
    5. Neu, Dean, 1992. "The social construction of positive choices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 223-237.
    6. Richard A. Posner, 1974. "Theories of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(2), pages 335-358, Autumn.
    7. Campbell, Katherine & Sefcik, Stephan E & Soderstrom, Naomi S, 2003. "Disclosure of Private Information and Reduction of Uncertainty: Environmental Liabilities in the Chemical Industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 349-378, December.
    8. Patten, Dennis M. & Trompeter, Greg, 2003. "Corporate responses to political costs: an examination of the relation between environmental disclosure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 83-94.
    9. Thomas Schneider & Giovanna Michelon & Michael Maier, 2017. "Environmental liabilities and diversity in practice under international financial reporting standards," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 378-403, February.
    10. Derek Johnston & Steve Rock, 2005. "Earnings Management to Minimize Superfund Clean†up and Transaction Costs," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 617-642, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Schneider & Giovanna Michelon & Mari Paananen, 2018. "Environmental and Social Matters in Mandatory Corporate Reporting: An Academic Note," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 275-305, June.
    2. Ray Ball, 2009. "Market and Political/Regulatory Perspectives on the Recent Accounting Scandals," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 277-323, May.
    3. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Mehrzad Azmi Shabestari & Martin Freedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo, 2020. "Corporate carbon risk exposure, voluntary disclosure, and financial reporting quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2130-2143, July.
    4. MacLeod, W. Bentley, 2011. "Great Expectations: Law, Employment Contracts, and Labor Market Performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 18, pages 1591-1696, Elsevier.
    5. Neal Arthur, 1990. "Financial Reporting to the Industries Assistance Commission: A Study in the Rôle of Accounting Information in Regulatory Decision Making," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 15(2), pages 217-241, December.
    6. Linyan Fan & Sheng Yao, 2022. "Analyst Site Visits and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Radhakrishnan, Suresh & Tsang, Albert & Liu, Rubing, 2018. "A Corporate Social Responsibility Framework for Accounting Research," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 274-294.
    8. Matt Pinnuck & Kevin Stevenson, 2021. "Enhancing the Interface between Standard‐setters and Academic Research," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(3), pages 169-185, September.
    9. Zixin Zhang & Teck Lee Yap & Jiyoung Park, 2021. "Does voluntary CSR disclosure and CSR performance influence earnings management? Empirical evidence from China," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 161-178, June.
    10. Aobdia, Daniel & Shroff, Nemit, 2017. "Regulatory oversight and auditor market share," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 262-287.
    11. Gérard Charreaux, 2008. "La recherche en finance d’entreprise:quel positionnement méthodologique ?," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 11(Special), pages 237-290, June.
    12. Olfa Ben Salah & Anis Jarboui, 2023. "Impact of Dividend Policy on Earnings Management and The Moderating Effect of The Board of Directors and The Audit Committees: The French Case," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 408-427, September.
    13. Kaltenhauser, Samuel Jonas, 2023. "Determinants and Capital Market Consequences of Net Zero Targets," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(2), pages 404-430.
    14. Lisa Baudot & Robin W. Roberts & Dana M. Wallace, 2017. "An Examination of the U.S. Public Accounting Profession’s Public Interest Discourse and Actions in Federal Policy Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 203-220, May.
    15. Yousef Alwardat, 2019. "Disclosure Quality and its Impact on Financial Reporting Quality, Audit Quality, and Investors’ Perceptions of the Quality of Financial Reporting: A Literature Review," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 8(3), pages 201-201, August.
    16. Halil Emre Akbaş & Seda Canikli, 2018. "Determinants of Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Disclosure: An Empirical Investigation on Turkish Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Boland, Matthew & Godsell, David, 2020. "Local soldier fatalities and war profiteers: New tests of the political cost hypothesis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    18. Bengtsson, Elias, 2020. "Macroprudential policy in the EU: A political economy perspective," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    19. Jagriti Srivastava & Pankaj Kumar Baag, 2019. "Positive Accounting Theory, Agency Costs And Accountng Regulation," Working papers 346, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    20. Daniel Kouloukoui & Sônia Maria da Silva Gomes & Marcia Mara de Oliveira Marinho & Ednildo Andrade Torres & Asher Kiperstok & Pieter de Jong, 2018. "Disclosure of climate risk information by the world’s largest companies," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 1251-1279, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02128271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.