Accounting & Marketing

Communication about Environmental Information: What Drives the Effect on Income Smoothing as Proxy of Earnings Quality?

Abstract

Ben Mahjoub Lassaad

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate environmental reporting and income smoothing made by companies listed in Paris Stock Exchange. We use earnings smoothness as proxy of earnings quality desirable by investors and we measure environmental reporting by index score using content analysis method, the index was composed by items from French law of New Economic Regulation, the global compact, Global Reporting Initiative and new Acts on environmental protection. Our results show a positive relationship between the two variables; firms with high level of environmental reporting are less incited to smooth earnings.