Assessment of corporate environmental information disclosures in Tanzania

Corporate environmental reporting is crucial in today‟s business. It indicates business commitment to environment improvement programs. The study assessed the extent of environmental information disclosure in Tanzanian using annual reports and websites. Thirty companies (corporate) were studied, from which 241 corporate annual reports out of 300 were assessed for the period of 1999 – 2008. Also, twenty seven company websites out of 30 were evaluated in terms of environmental information disclosure. Reporting guidelines were searched, only to find none in Tanzania. Thus, the study adopted guidelines from other countries and modified to reflect the local environment, and used to generate an assessment checklist. Annual reports and websites were assessed with 35 sentences as the guide. Excluding mining sector, which had 30 sentences, others had an average of 6 a year. Most disclosed statements were environmental commitments rather than financial and performance. They were on Directors/Chaiperson's statement page. All sectors reported only good news except some cement and mining firms. The study concludes that reporting is tremendously low. Reasons were lack of guidelines, legal framework, continuity and awareness as well as information sensitivity. The study recommends formulation of standardized reporting requirements, guidelines, integrated environmental management system and annual rewards including incentives. Further research extensions are recommended to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) because SMEs contribute significantly to the country‟s economic development