Environmental disclosures: A study on some selected pharmaceutical and chemical companies in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study attempts to address the environmental disclosure practices in listed pharmaceutical and chemical industries in Bangladesh. The authors developed a disclosure index to measure the extent of environmental disclosure prepared by companies in their annual reports. It is observed that the considerable amount of environmental information is disclosed by a few pharmaceutical and chemical companies while a large number of companies ignore the information concerning the issue. The study also found a significant variation of environment disclosures among the companies. However, this study put recommendations to the government and regulatory bodies of the concerned companies to take necessary actions in such a way that the all pharmaceutical and chemical industries of Bangladesh are motivated and compelled to address the environmental issue in their annual reports. Moreover, this will contribute to the existing literature by creating awareness among the users as well as to the preparation of the annual reports in disclosing more relevant information.