Culture and accountants' perceptions of environmental financial reporting practice

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate and interpret the possible link between culture and the perceptions of accountants on corporate environmental reporting practices on a two country basis, i.e. between Nigeria and United Kingdom. Using Hofstede's (1980) and Gray's (1988) cultural value framework, the paper employs a qualitative approach through interviews conducted with corporate accountants in publicly listed companies in Nigeria and United Kingdom. It is revealed that environmental financial practices in both countries are influenced by cultural values, in particular collectivism, high uncertainty avoidance, uniformity, conservatism and secrecy. Despite the fact that types of cultural and sub-cultural dimension pertaining to reporting practice in Nigeria and United Kingdom are similar, mixed findings are found when compared with national cultural values (Hofstede, 1980) and sub-cultural values (Gray, 1988). The consistencies of cultural dimensions found in these two countries and the orientation of the practice across nations indicate a promising move towards standardization and harmonization of successful implementation of environmental accounting and financial reporting.