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This study aims to examine determinants of the extent of sustainability reporting on Malaysian local council web sites using a disclosure index within an institutional theory framework.

Adopting a simplified disclosure index to measure the extent of sustainability reporting, the unit of analysis for this research is Malaysian local council web sites. To reduce any subjectivity, the disclosure index is unweighted and consists of 57 items.

Several findings were apparent including size, Local Agenda (LA) 21 and public sector award all being found to be significant predictors of disclosure. Overall, the findings indicate the presence of institutional isomorphism – particularly coercive pressure – in explaining the extent of sustainability reporting on web sites.

The research has multiple implications as it provides insights into web site sustainability reporting in a developing country. It also adds support to institutional isomorphism as a valid theoretical framework within this context. Based on there being no mandatory requirement for local authorities to produce annual reports, one limitation is that this paper assumes that the web sites of local authorities are the primary medium for communicating sustainability information.

One of the most significant practical implications relates to LA 21 which has a significant impact on sustainability disclosure on Malaysian local council web sites. With 113 countries in total implementing LA 21 to some degree (ICLEI), Malaysia's recognition as a key (developing country) player in advancing sustainable development should be acknowledged.

With an apparent lack of web site sustainability reporting research in developing country public sector organisations, this study is unique in that it appears to be the first research conducted in Malaysia analysing sustainability web site reporting using a disclosure index in a local government setting – all within an institutional theory framework. Not only can the disclosure index be used as a tool for future public sector corporate social responsibility related research, but the “new” disclosure instrument provides insights into the extent of sustainability reporting in local authorities.

Web‐based corporate reporting has emerged as a new mode of communication between companies and stakeholders. The purpose of this research is to assess the perception of various stakeholders on adequacy, usefulness and the future of web‐based corporate reporting.

A questionnaire was administered to 255 respondents and factor analysis was applied to analyse the data.

Factor analysis identified eight factors, which describe stakeholders’ perceptions about web‐based corporate reporting. These include usefulness of web reporting, future prospects, legal acceptability, adequacy of information, usefulness for investment decision, standardisation of content, mandatory requirement and substitute for traditional reporting.

The research findings will guide companies, regulators and service providers to deliver better information to stakeholders through disclosures on corporate websites.

The paper provides an insight into stakeholders’ beliefs and perceptions with respect to web reporting practices by companies and the future of these practices.

The exponential growth in corporate reporting on the internet has created numerous opportunities and challenges for the accounting and auditing profession, and regulators. This study aims to examine internet reporting practices of companies in Malaysia for the purpose of exploring their auditing implications.

An examination of the 100 Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Indexed (KLSE CI) companies in Malaysia in 2003 and 2004.

Although there has been an increase in both the number of companies and the types of information provided on the internet, the quality of internet reporting information to users has little improved. This problem is compounded because auditors have little control over web contents and the changes that can be made to audited information. Further guidance to standardise the types of internet reporting information may help protect the interest of users, provide more certainty to what information needs to be audited and reduce audit risks.

The hosting of audited information on an auditor's web site may provide auditors with better control, reduce audit risks and further improve the credibility and reliability of information to users.

Provides information on the financial reporting and auditing challenges posed by internet reporting.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of financial reporting on the internet by companies operating in an emerging economy, namely Jordan.

The paper surveys 127 companies listed in the first market of Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the year ended 2008/2009. The primary sources of the data used in this study are the global and the Jordanian electronic web sites. The paper employs descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests to explore the internet financial reporting (IFR) practices among Jordanian companies.

The results show that 87 Jordanian companies (69 percent) possess web sites with about 51 percent (44 of the 87) include financial reports and 32 out of 44 companies (about 73 percent) disseminate all their financial information on their web sites. The paper also finds that the extent of disclosure of the corporate financial and nonfinancial information on the ASE web site is statistically different form the companies’ web sites. Furthermore, the current paper reveals that some firm-specific characteristics such as firm size; financial leverage, age, and ownership concentration may distinguish those companies who engage in IFR from their counterparts. Finally, the results suggest that the financial sector is more advanced in terms of using the internet to disseminate information when compared to the industrial and services sectors.

In the context of Jordan, there is limited number of studies attempted to address corporate financial reporting on the internet. Therefore, the present study makes significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge by shedding more light on the status of financial disclosure on the internet by companies operating in an emerging economy like Jordan. Also, the current paper explores the extent of corporate information disclosed on both the official web site of ASE and companies’ web sites.

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of the web as a means of stakeholder engagement and as part of a strategy for communicating to stakeholders particularly on social and environmental performance.

A postal questionnaire was sent to over one hundred companies in Australia, Germany and in the UK and interviews were conducted with six companies (two British, one German and three Australian) identified as adopting best practice.

A key finding was the limited understanding of the advantages of using the web as part of a communication strategy on all aspects of corporate performance. The study also found that the lack of resources made available for web‐based communication limited its potential.

Web technologies provide the possibility of communicating on performance with a broad group of stakeholders. This is particularly relevant to reporting on social and environmental performance which is of interest to a broader group of stakeholders than financial reporting. Stakeholder involvement is important in developing organisational change strategies aimed at improving social and environmental performance.

The findings have implications for companies developing strategies to enhance their communication with key stakeholder groups.

The paper considers the use of the web as part of a communication strategy to a broad group of stakeholders. This is particularly relevant to reporting on social and environmental performance which is aimed at a broader group of stakeholders than traditional financial reporting.

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the utilization of the internet by the Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) for corporate reporting; to determine the company characteristics that influence the information disclosure level on the internet; and to investigate whether there is a significant difference between the firms listed in the Corporate Governance Index of the ISE and those that are not, in terms of level of disclosure on the corporate web sites.

The methodology of the study was content analysis of corporate web sites of corporations listed on the ISE.

Firms, which are listed in the ISE Corporate Governance Index (XCORP), disclose significantly more information on corporate web sites compared to the firms that are not listed in the XCORP. In addition, the results indicate that firm size and being listed in the XCORP are significant explanatory variables for the total disclosure score on the corporate web sites, while industry and profitability are not.

Since the study was conducted on a sample of listed companies on the ISE, the findings are not necessarily representative of non‐listed companies.

The study contributes to the scarce literature on internet reporting in developing countries and it incorporates the XCORP in the predictors of information disclosure level on corporate web sites.

Financial reporting on the Internet is an activity that has increased in recent years. This paper reports the results of a survey of Internet reporting by the top 99 Japanese companies in 1998. It was found that the majority of these companies (78) had a Web site in English and that of these 68 reported some financial information with 57 providing detailed accounting information. Company size was significantly positively associated with the existence of a Web site but the extent of financial disclosure did not appear to be related to size. There was no significant association between profitability, industry grouping and overseas listing status and Internet disclosure. The survey was updated in 2001 by re‐evaluating those companies which had no Web site or only a Japanese Web site in 1998. It was found that the majority of these companies now have an English language Web site with full annual reports available.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the state of environmental reporting by Indian companies on their web sites and also in their annual reports.

The web sites of the companies in the sample were visited to examine the accessibility and extent of environmental information disclosure on their web sites. The annual reports for 2003‐2004, as available on the companies' web sites were selected to investigate the extent of environmental information disclosure in these annual reports.

The paper finds that, although there are no regulations enforcing the disclosure of environmental information, most of the Indian companies have disclosed environmental information. These companies provided more environmental information on their web sites compared to the information provided in their annual reports.

This study contributes to the existing body of environmental reporting literature by focusing on the status of environmental reporting by companies of an emerging economy and also contributes to the existing body of environmental reporting literature by focusing on the accessibility of environmental information on web sites of respective companies.

While the idea of control packages goes back to the early 1980s, empirical management accounting researchers have been reluctant to examine this broader view of management control. Past research has addressed the use of management control for the organization as a whole, as well as for specific objects of control. While those objects of control typically involve information available for internal uses, we do not know much about the role of management control when the object of control is comprised of information intended to be disclosed outside the organization. This study aims to examine the role of a control package to manage web-based corporate reporting. More specifically, this study aims to examine the antecedents and consequences of a management control package related to web site content. The results suggest that perceived environmental uncertainty and stakeholder orientation are key factors that influence the extent of use of the management control package. Moreover, the extent of use of a management control package is associated with the quality of web site content but not the quantity of information disclosed.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate upon the notion of counter accounting, to assess the potentiality of online reports for counter accounting and hence for counter accounting's emancipatory potential as online reporting, to assess the extent to which this potential is being realised and to suggest ways forward from a critical perspective.

There are several components to a critical interpretive analysis: critical evaluative analysis, informed to some extent by prior literature in diverse fields; web survey; questionnaire survey; case study.

Web‐based counter accounting may be understood as having emancipatory potential, some of which is being realised in practice. Not all the positive potential is, however, being realised as one might hope: things that might properly be done are not always being done. And there are threats to progress in the future.

Clarification of a notion of counter accounting incorporating the activity of groups such as pressure groups and NGOs; rare study into practices and opinions in this context through a critical evaluative lens.