Drivers of Environmental Reporting Practices by Listed Firms at the Nairobi Securities Exchange

Abstract

The objective the study was to measure the environmental reporting index by listed companies at the NSE. The study also aimed to establish the kind of relationship that exists between drivers of environmental reporting practices and the environmental reporting practice. Environmental reporting index was the dependent variable for the study and the independent variables were profitability, financial leverage, firm size, ownership structure and industry type. Descriptive research design was employed and the study was census in nature because the entire population of listed firms at the NSE as at August 2016 was looked at. Information found in CSR reports and annual reports of the participants were used as data for the study. A five year average from year 2011 to 2015 was done so that accurate measure for every variable of the study could be arrived at. The data obtained was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. A 95% confidence level was used by the study model and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and coefficient of determination were used as inferential statistics. Results from the study showed that the environmental reporting index by listed companies at the NSE was very low and that profitability and financial leverage had a negative association with environmental reporting index. Firm size, ownership structure and industry type were found to have a weak positive relationship with environmental reporting index.