S Hrasky

Carbon footprints and legitimation strategies: symbolism or action?

Purpose - Climate change and carbon footprints are among the most urgent concerns facing society and are key issues of corporate responsibility. The purpose of this study is to assess whether Australian companies have adjusted their footprint-related disclosure responses. Adopting a legitimacy perspective, a key aim is to assess whether pragmatic or moral legitimation approaches dominate by determining whether disclosure tends to be more reflective of symbolism or of apparent behaviour. Design/methodology/approach - Content analysis of the sustainability and annual reports of the ASXs Top 50 companies is undertaken to compare carbon footprint-related disclosures in 2008 and 2005. Their extent and nature (action or symbolism) and the use of attention-attracting devices are reported for the more carbon intensive and less carbon intensive sectors. Findings - Footprint-related disclosure rates are increasing, and disclosure is being signalled more prominently. However, while carbon-intensive sectors appear to be pursuing a moral legitimation strategy underpinned by substantive action, the less intensive sectors are relying more heavily on symbolic disclosure. Research limitations/implications - The sample size is small and comprises only large listed Australian companies. Practical implications - While the carbon-intensive sectors appear to be taking encouraging actions, a regulatory response may be required for the less carbon-intensive sectors to take advantage of their market power to facilitate cooperative carbon reduction with broader constituent groups. Further, incentives for the carbon-intensive sectors may be needed to encourage ongoing efforts to bridge the carbon chasm that is emerging. Originality/value - This study appears to be the first to provide direct Australian evidence on favoured legitimation tactics by assessing the symbolic versus behavioural management implicit in carbon footprint-related disclosures.

Visual disclosure strategies adopted by more and less sustainability-driven companies

Abstract Graph use in annual reports is well documented, and research into photographs is gaining momentum, but less is known about their use in sustainability reports. This research analyses graph and photograph use in sustainability reports of more and less sustainability-driven companies. It aims to determine whether use of imagery differs between these groups in a way reflective of different legitimation tactics. Results suggest that less sustainable companies pursue legitimacy symbolically while sustainability-driven firms convey more about actual impacts and accomplishments. Some sustainability reporters appear, therefore, to be using imagery as a rhetorical “green-washing” tool in their communication with stakeholders.

Standard‐setting in Australia: Implications of Recent Radical Reform Proposals

We examine the implications of the Howard governments Corporate Law Economic Reform Program as they relate to accounting standard-setting in Australia. A luck of systematic and compelling evidence for wholesale changes to the existing standard-setting process is identified, as is a fundamental shift in the rationale for standard-setting which underlies the proposed changes. We disagree with the main plank of the proposals, that is, that international accounting standards should be adopted in Australia.

Legitimacy, accountability and impression management in NGOs: the Indian Ocean tsunami

Purpose - – Prior research has investigated legitimation strategies in corporate annual reports in the for-profit sector. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this phenomenon in an NGO environment. It investigates Australian overseas aid agencies’ responses to criticism of the relief effort following the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. It aims to determine whether voluntary annual report disclosures were reflective of impression management and/or of the discharge of functional accountability. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper applies content analysis to compare the structure and content of the annual reports of 19 Australian overseas aid agencies before and after the Indian Ocean tsunami. Findings - – Results suggest voluntary disclosure in annual reports significantly increased post-tsunami and was more consistent with impression management activity rather than functional accountability suggesting a response to the legitimacy challenge. The use of impression management tactics differed with agency size, with larger agencies using ingratiation in order to appear more attractive while smaller ones promoted their particular achievements. Originality/value - – This paper makes a contribution by extending prior impression management and legitimacy literature to an NGO environment. It has implications for the development of these theories as it looks at organisations where the stakeholders are different from the for-profit sector and profits are not the main concern. It raises issues about the concept of accountability in the NGO sector, and how the nature of organisation reporting is changing to address the challenges of a sector where access to funds is highly competitive.

Lake Pedder: Accounting, environmental decision-making, nature and impression management

Abstract This paper looks at the role of accounting in a major environmental infrastructural project, the flooding of Lake Pedder in Tasmania in the 1960s. This was a contentious political decision in which accounting information was important and decisive. The paper found that accounting was used selectively and creatively to legitimate decision-making supporting a cost-benefit calculus. Environmental considerations were rendered invisible, marginalised and excluded from the evaluation. Accounting was used as an impression management tool through selectivity, bias and enhancement. It provides a rare illustration of the limitations of accounting for an infrastructural environmental decision using a real life, in depth case study.