Corporate Sustainability Reporting Practice In An Emerging Market: A Case Of Listed Companies In Nigeria

This paper seeks to explore the trend in sustainability reporting practice in an emerging market. The study involves critical assessment of the current level of sustainability reporting disclosures. To achieve this, content analysis was used on data sourced from the corporate annual reports of selected listed companies quoted in Nigerian Stock Exchange. The analysis identifies the extent to which sustainability reporting has been in line with global best practices in disclosing the three sustainability reporting metrics (environmental, social and governance). Finding revealed that the selected listed companies are more highly disposed to disclosing governance and social information than environmental disclosure. Corporations also attempt to manage stakeholder impressions by self-servingly biasing the language and verbal tone used in their environmental disclosures. The study found that the greatest proportions of location of corporate social and environmental disclosure of the sampled companies are disclosed in the chairman’s statement and directors’ report.