Examination of Challenges Facing Ethical Considerations for Environmental Accounting Disclosure in Nigeria

Abstract

The study was an examination of challenges facing ethical considerations for environmental accounting disclosure in Nigeria. Three research questions were answered for this study. Ex-post facto research design was used. The small- scale study was conducted in a company in Ogun State, Nigeria. A total of 250 staff of this company participated in the questionnaire administration of the study. Researcher Instrument tagged ‘Ethical Consideration and Environmental Accounting Disclosure Instrument’ with reliability coefficient 0.92 was used for data collection. Research questions 1 and 2 were answered using descriptive statistics of mean. Research question 3 was answered using regression analysis. The findings revealed that breach of confidentiality accounting report, misrepresentation of expertise, cover-up accounting errors, insider trading, inadequate transparency in accounting report and decision, tax evasion and misleading reporting were among the challenges confronting ethical consideration for environmental accounting disclosure in Nigeria. Lack of environmental awareness by employees, shortages of environmental information, profitability spill-over effect, implementation costs, environmental liability and environmental assets were among the challenges facing firm environmental accounting disclosure. If all things equal, ethical consideration could predict environmental accounting disclosure. About .742 increases in environmental accounting disclosure could be attributed towards ethical consideration practices. It was recommended that Nigeria government should effectively implement environmental guideline for industries operating in communities in the nation and there should be a percentage of firm annual profits on the development of the host communities. The study also recommended that the headquarters of all companies should be located in the host communities where company operations take place.