Preliminary Insights on Sustainability Reporting Practice in Cambodia

Authors

  • Muhammad M. Ma’aji CamEd Business School, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
  • Ediri O. Anderson CamEd Business School, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
  • Martin Sviatko CamEd Business School, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
  • Lee Siang Hi CamEd Business School, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jsbe.v5i4.24

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the development and evolution of sustainability reporting practices in Cambodia and to identify current practices and trends in sustainability reporting in Cambodia, as well as perceptions of sustainability reporting. Interviews and surveys were used to determine respondents’ perceptions of issues related to sustainability reporting. The results from this study found that 74 percent of the respondents are aware of sustainability reporting and its perceived strategic importance to businesses but only 29 percent of the respondent’s companies are reporting on environmental and social impacts of their business operations as indicated in the report. The results reveal that non-financial information disclosure and sustainability reporting practices among companies are at the early stage in Cambodia. The study also reveals that the nondisclosure of environmental and social activities could be due to the lack of disclosure requirements on environmental and social impacts of business operations by national law, the lack of incentives for companies to disclose, and the lack of understanding of the strategic importance of such reporting in generating competitive advantage and achieving sustainable business model. Findings in the study revealed several issues that require further analysis to identify significant factors that would influence environmental and social activities disclosure using a sustainability report.

Keywords:

Sustainable development, Sustainability reporting, Reports, Corporate social responsibility, Cambodia

References

[1] Aras, G., Crowther, D., 2007. Sustainable corporate social responsibility and value chain. Crowther, D. and Mustaffa, M.Z. (Eds), New Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility, University Publication Centre (UPENA), UiTM, Kuala Lumpur.

[2] Wallage, P., 2000. Assurance on sustainability reporting: an auditor’s view. Auditing: Journal of Practice and Theory. 19, 53-65.

[3] ACCA, 2004. Towards Transparency: Progress on Global Sustainability Reporting 2004, ACCA, London.

[4] CorporateRegister, 2008. CSR Assurance Statement Report 2008, CorporateRegister, London.

[5] Birth, G., Illia, L., Lurati, F., et al., 2008. Communicating CSR: practices among Switzeland’s top 300 companies, Corporate Communication. An International Journal. 13(2), 182-196.

[6] Gibson, K., O’Donovan, G., 2007. Corporate governance and environmental reporting: an Australian study, Corporate Governance. An International Review. 15(5), 944.

[7] Stewart, A., 2005. An Investigation of Sustainability Reporting by Companies in Australian Coal Mining Industry to Public and Regulatory Audience, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

[8] Backer, L., 2007. Engaging stakeholders in corporate environmental governance. Business and Society Review. 112(1), 29-54.

[9] Hamid, F.Z.A., 2004. Corporate social disclosure by banks and finance companies: Malaysian evidence. Corporate Ownership & Control. 1(4), 118-130.

[10] Mohamed Zain, M., Mohammad, R., 2007. CSR in Malaysia: the dawn of new beginning. Crawther, D. and Mohamad Zain, M. (Eds), New Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility, UPENA, Kuala Lumpur. pp. 1-20.

[11] ACCAMalaysia, 2006. Report of the Judges: ACCA Malaysia Environmental Reporting Awards 2006, ACCA, Kuala Lumpur.

[12] ACCAMalaysia, 2007. Report of the Judges: ACCA Malaysia Environmental Reporting Awards 2007, ACCA, Kuala Lumpur.

[13] Islam, M.A., Deegan, C., 2008. Motivations for an organisation within a developing country to report social responsibility information: Evidence from Bangladesh. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.

[14] Ahmad, N., Sulaiman, M., 2004. Environmental disclosure in Malaysian annual report: a legitimacy theory perspective. International Journal of Commerce and Management. 14(1), 44-58.

[15] Janggu, T., Joseph, C., Madi, N., 2007. The current state of corporate social responsibility among industrial companies in Malaysia. Social Responsibility Journal. 3(3), 9-18.

[16] Mohamed Zain, M., 1999. Corporate social reporting in Malaysia: the current state of the art and future prospects, unpublished degree of doctor of philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield.

[17] Starik, M., Kanashiro, P., 2013. Toward a theory of sustainability management: Uncovering and integrating the nearly obvious. Organization & Environment. 26(1), 7-30.

[18] Lusher, A.L., 2012. What is the accounting Profession’s role in accountability of economic, social, and environmental issues? International Journal of Business and Social Science. 3, 15.

[19] Martin, A., Hadley, D., 2008. Corporate environmental non-reporting–a UK FTSE 350 perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment. 17(4), 245-259.

[20] KPMG, 2008. KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2008, KMPG, London.

[21] Ofosu-Mensah, E.A., 2016. Mining in colonial Ghana: Extractive capitalism and its social benefits in Akyem Abuakwa under Nana Ofori Atta I. Africa Today. 63(1), 22-55.

[22] Parker, L.D., 2011. Twenty-one years of social and environmental accountability research: A coming of age. Paper read at Accounting Forum.

[23] Burritt, R.L., Schaltegger, S., 2010. Sustainability accounting and reporting: Fad or trend? Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 23(7), 829-846.

[24] Asif, M., Searcy, C., Garvare, R., et al., 2011. Including sustainability in business excellence models. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. 22(7), 773-786.

[25] Herzig, C., Schaltegger, S., 2011. Corporate sustainability reporting. J. Godemann & G. Michelsen (Eds.), Sustainability communication. Heidelberg: Springer. 151-169.

[26] Sisaye, S., 2011. Ecological systems approach to sustainability and organizational development: Emerging trends in environmental and social accounting reporting systems. Leadership and Organization Development Journal. 32(4), 379-398.

[27] Zvezdov, D., Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M., 2010. The increasing involvement of accountants in corporate sustainability management. Journal of the Asia Pacific centre for environmental accountability. 16(4), 20-31.

[28] Schaltegger, S., Zvezdov, D., 2015. Gatekeepers of sustainability information: Exploring the roles of accountants. Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. 11(3), 333-361.

[29] Evans, E., Burritt, R., Guthrie, J., 2011. Bridging the gap between academic accounting research and professional practice. Sydney: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia/Universiy of South Australia.

[30] Cedric, D., Faith Wambura, N., 2008. Corporate social responsibility reporting in South Africa: descriptive and comparative analysis. The Journal of Business Communication. 45(3), 286-307.

[31] Deegan, C., 2002. The legitimising effect of social and environmental disclosures: a theoretical foundation. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 15(3), 282-311.

[32] Maharaj, R., Herremans, I.M., 2008. Shell Canada: over a decade of sustainable development reporting experience. Corporate Governance. 8(3), 235-247.

[33] Gray, R., Kouhy, R., Lavers, S., 1995. Constructing a research database of social and environmental reporting by UK companies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 8(2), 78-101.

[34] Ahmad, N., Sulaiman, M., 2004. Environmental disclosure in Malaysian annual report: a legitimacy theory perspective. International Journal of Commerce and Management. 14(1), 44-58.

[35] Sawani, Y., Zain, M.M., Darus, F., 2010. Preliminary insights on sustainability reporting and assurance practices in Malaysia. Social Responsibility Journal. 6(4), 627-645.

[36] Perry, M., Sheng, T.T., 1999. An overview of trends related to environmental reporting in Singapore. Environmental Management and Health. 10(5), 310-320.

[37] Thompson, P., Zakaria, Z., 2004. Corporate social responsibility reporting in Malaysia: Progress and prospects. Journal of Corporate Citizenship. 13, 125-136.

[38] Tilt, C.A., 2001. The content and disclosure of Australian corporate environmental policies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 14(2), 190-212.

[39] Cooper, S.M., Owen, D.L., 2007. Corporate social reporting and stakeholder accountability: The missing link. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 32(7-8), 649-667.

[40] Friedman, A.L., Miles, S., 2001. Socially responsible investment and corporate social and environmental reporting in the UK: an exploratory study. The British Accounting Review. 33(4), 523-548.

[41] Belal, A.R., Owen, D.L., 2007. The views of corporate managers on the current state of, and future prospects for, social reporting in Bangladesh: An engagement‐based study. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 20(3), 472-494.

[42] Day, R., Woodward, T., 2004. Disclosure of information about employees in the Directors’ report of UK published financial statements: substantive or symbolic? Accounting Forum. 28(1), 43-59.

[43] Bebbington, J., Larrinaga, C., Moneva, J.M., 2008. Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 21(3), 337-361.

[44] Herremans, M., 1999. Waterbird diversity, densities, communities and seasonality in the Kalahari Basin, Botswana. Journal of Arid Environments. 43(3), 319-350.

[45] Simnett, R., Nugent, M., 2007. Developing an assurance standard for carbon emissions disclosures. Australian Accounting Review. 17(42), 37-47.

[46] Branco, M.C., Rodrigues, L.L., 2006. Corporate social responsibility and resource-based perspectives. Journal of business Ethics. 69(2), 111-132.

[47] Campbell, D., Moore, G., Shrives, P., 2006. Cross‐sectional effects in community disclosure. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 19(1), 96-114.

[48] Leventis, S., Weetman, P., 2004. Timeliness of financial reporting: applicability of disclosure theories in an emerging capital market. Accounting and Business Research. 34(1), 43-56.

[49] Park, J., Brorson, T., 2005. Experiences of and views on third-party assurance of corporate environmental and sustainability reports. Journal of Cleaner Production. 13(10-11), 1095-1106.

[50] Thoradeniya, P., Lee, J., Tan, R., et al., 2015. Sustainability reporting and the theory of planned behaviour. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 28(7), 1099-1137.

Downloads

How to Cite

Ma’aji, M. M., Anderson, E. O., Sviatko, M., & Hi, L. S. (2022). Preliminary Insights on Sustainability Reporting Practice in Cambodia. Journal of Sustainable Business and Economics, 5(4), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.30564/jsbe.v5i4.24

Issue

Vol. 5 , Iss. 4 (October 2022)

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2022 Muhammad M. Ma’aji, Ediri O. Anderson, Martin Sviatko, Lee Siang Hi

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.