Dennis M. Patten

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Cultural Secrecy and Anti‐corruption Disclosure in Large Multinational Companies

Renata Blanc, Manuel Castelo Branco, Dennis M. Patten

Australian Accounting Review > 29 > 2 > 438 - 448

This paper analyses the relation between countries’ cultural characteristics and anti‐corruption disclosure. In particular, it extends prior research and examines whether country‐level secrecy also appears to impact differences in this type of disclosure, while controlling for factors previously shown to matter. Using Transparency International ratings of disclosures on anti‐corruption efforts by...

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Disclosure strategies and investor reactions to downsizing announcements: A legitimacy perspective

Emmanuelle Nègre, Marie-Anne Verdier, Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Accounting and Public Policy > 2017 > 36 > 3 > 239-257

In this paper, we focus on a relatively underexplored aspect of sustainability—workforce reductions. We investigate the determinants and consequences of the decisions made by French firms to use press releases in order to announce downsizing operations. We also examine whether the content of press releases has an impact on investor reactions to downsizing announcements. Particularly in the French...

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Climate Change and Asset Prices: Are Corporate Carbon Disclosure and Performance Priced Appropriately?

Andrea Liesen, Frank Figge, Andreas Hoepner, Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Business Finance & Accounting > 44 > 1-2 > 35 - 62

This paper empirically assesses the relevance of information on corporate climate change disclosure and performance to asset prices, and discusses whether this information is priced appropriately. Findings indicate that corporate disclosures of quantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, to a lesser extent, carbon performance are value relevant. We use hand‐collected information on quantitative...

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Mandated Social Disclosure: An Analysis of the Response to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010

Rachel N. Birkey, Ronald P. Guidry, Mohammad Azizul Islam, Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Business Ethics > 2018 > 152 > 3 > 827-841

In this study, we examine investor and firm response to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (CTSCA) of 2010. The CTSCA requires large retail and manufacturing firms to disclose efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains and is a rare example of mandated corporate social responsibility disclosure. Based on a sample of 105 retail companies subject to the...

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Does assurance on CSR reporting enhance environmental reputation? An examination in the U.S. context

Rachel N. Birkey, Giovanna Michelon, Dennis M. Patten, Jomo Sankara

Accounting Forum > 2016 > 40 > 3 > 143-152

•Just over 18 percent of our sample companies obtained outside assurance.•Other factors, outside assurance is positively associated with environmental reputation scores.•Positive impacts hold across different types of assurance providers.

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An insider's reflection on quantitative research in the social and environmental disclosure domain

Dennis M. Patten

Critical Perspectives on Accounting > 2015 > 32 > C > 45-50

In this commentary, I reflect on my use of quantitative techniques to assess corporate social and environmental accounting (SEA) and disclosure. In addition to summarizing my intended agenda in that regard, I offer my reasons for relying on quantitative methods while also acknowledging issues and concerns within the body of SEA research using these techniques. Overall, I try to make the case that...

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The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France

Jean-Noël Chauvey, Sophie Giordano-Spring, Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Business Ethics > 2015 > 130 > 4 > 789-803

In 2001, France became one of the few countries to require corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting through its Nouvelles Régulations Économiques #2001-420 (NRE). However, initial compliance with the statute was low, a factor implying the law lacked normativity. In this exploratory study, we attempt to determine whether there is movement toward normativity by examining the change in CSR disclosure...

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Standalone CSR reporting by U.S. retail companies

Dennis M. Patten, Na Zhao

Accounting Forum > 2014 > 38 > 2 > 132-144

We investigate first-time use of standalone CSR reporting in the U.S. retail industry. We find it is limited to publicly traded companies and that environmental rather than other social disclosures are most prominent. We document that firms focus on discussing CSR initiatives and programs as opposed to providing performance data, suggesting the reports are more about image enhancement than transparent...

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Initiating Disclosure of Environmental Liability Information: An Empirical Analysis of Firm Choice

Jennifer C. Chen, Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Business Ethics > 2014 > 125 > 4 > 681-692

This paper investigates potential motivations for late adopting U.S. companies to begin disclosing environmental liability amounts in their financial statements. Based on a review of 10-K reports filed from 1998 through 2012, inclusive, we identified 55 firms initiating environmental liability disclosure over the period, with all but three doing so by 2006. Focusing on the disclosers up through 2006,...

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Green accounting: Reflections from a CSR and environmental disclosure perspective

Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten

Critical Perspectives on Accounting > 2013 > 24 > 6 > 443-447

In this commentary, we reflect on Thornton's (2013) extension to his original CA Magazine article on environmental accounting (Thornton, 1993) as well as the original contribution. Given our background in social and environmental disclosure research, we question Thornton's narrow focus on environmental accounting as it relates to the debits and credits of financial reporting, and we attempt to illustrate...

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Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research

Ronald P. Guidry, Dennis M. Patten

Accounting Forum > 2012 > 36 > 2 > 81-90

A growing number of environmental disclosure studies are using financial control variables based on arguments from the voluntary disclosure theory (VDT). The VDT justifications for these controls are based on assumptions that disclosure is used as a tool for reducing information asymmetry between managers and investors. Given the findings reported in a broad sample of legitimacy-based environmental...

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Do actions speak louder than words? An empirical investigation of corporate environmental reputation

Charles H. Cho, Ronald P. Guidry, Amy M. Hageman, Dennis M. Patten

Accounting, Organizations and Society > 2012 > 37 > 1 > 14-25

In this study, we investigate the extent to which firms’ environmental performance is reflected in perceptions of their environmental reputation and whether environmental disclosure serves to mediate the negative aspects of poorer environmental performance associated with those assessments. We also examine whether differences in environmental performance and environmental disclosure appear to be associated...

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The language of US corporate environmental disclosure

Charles H. Cho, Robin W. Roberts, Dennis M. Patten

Accounting, Organizations and Society > 2010 > 35 > 4 > 431-443

We rely on prior work in environmental disclosure and corporate impression management to investigate whether there are self-serving biases present in the language and verbal tone used in corporations’ environmental disclosures. Specifically, we argue that the degree of bias in these narratives varies systematically based on firm environmental performance, hypothesizing that disclosures of worse environmental...

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The GAO investigation of corporate environmental disclosure: An opportunity missed

Dennis M. Patten, Martin Freedman

Critical Perspectives on Accounting > 2008 > 19 > 4 > 435-449

In July 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued Environmental Disclosure—SEC should explore ways to improve tracking and transparency of information [Government Accountability Office. 2004. Environmental Disclosure—SEC should explore ways to improve tracking and transparency of information, GAO, Washington, DC]. The report is the culmination of the organization's extensive investigation...

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Corporate Charitable Contributions: A Corporate Social Performance or Legitimacy Strategy?

Jennifer C. Chen, Dennis M. Patten, Robin W. Roberts

Journal of Business Ethics > 2008 > 82 > 1 > 131-144

This study examines the relation between firms’ corporate philanthropic giving and their performance in three other social domains – employee relations, environmental issues, and product safety. Based on a sample of 384 U.S. companies and using data pooled from 1998 through 2000, we find that worse performers in the other social areas are both more likely to make charitable contributions and that...

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Does the Market Value Corporate Philanthropy? Evidence from the Response to the 2004 Tsunami Relief Effort

Dennis M. Patten

Journal of Business Ethics > 2008 > 81 > 3 > 599-607

This study investigates the market reaction to corporate press releases announcing donations to the relief effort following the December, 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. Based on a sample of 79 U.S. companies, results indicate a statistically significant positive 5-day cumulative abnormal return. While differences in the timing of the press releases do not appear to have influenced market reactions,...

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The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note

Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten

Accounting, Organizations and Society > 2007 > 32 > 7-8 > 639-647

Legitimacy theory suggests companies with poorer environmental performance would be expected to provide more extensive off-setting or positive environmental disclosures in their financial reports. However, recent investigations of the performance/disclosure relation [Al-Tuwaijri, S. A., Christensen, T. E., & Hughes II, K. E. (2004). The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance,...

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Corporate Political Strategy: An Examination of the Relation between Political Expenditures, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure

Charles H. Cho, Dennis M. Patten, Robin W. Roberts

Journal of Business Ethics > 2006 > 67 > 2 > 139-154

Two fundamental business ethics issues that repeatedly surface in the academic literature relate to business’s role in the development of public policy [Suarez, S. L.: 2000, Does Business Learn? (The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI); Roberts, R. W. and D. D. Bobek: 2004, Accounting, Organizations and Society 29(5–6), 565–590] and its role in responsibly managing the natural environment...

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The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: a research note

Dennis M. Patten

Accounting, Organizations and Society > 2005 > 30 > 5 > 457-468

Financial report environmental disclosure has been widely criticized because the extent of disclosure both varies in response to exposures facing the firm and because it is not an accurate measure of firm environmental performance. This study suggests there are at least two potential problems that need to be addressed before this disclosure can be completely condemned as meaningless. A first potential...

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Evidence on the pernicious effect of financial report environmental disclosure

Martin Freedman, Dennis M Patten

Accounting Forum > 2004 > 28 > 1 > 27-41

Unlike previous US environmental regulations, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), passed into law in 1986, focused on using information as a tool for reducing pollution. As noted by Konar and Cohen [Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 32 (1997) 109], if investors cared enough about the pollution performance information required under the enactment to punish bad performers, firms would...

INFONA - science communication portal

Search results for: Dennis M. Patten

Cultural Secrecy and Anti‐corruption Disclosure in Large Multinational Companies

Disclosure strategies and investor reactions to downsizing announcements: A legitimacy perspective

Climate Change and Asset Prices: Are Corporate Carbon Disclosure and Performance Priced Appropriately?

Mandated Social Disclosure: An Analysis of the Response to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010

Does assurance on CSR reporting enhance environmental reputation? An examination in the U.S. context

An insider's reflection on quantitative research in the social and environmental disclosure domain

The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France

Standalone CSR reporting by U.S. retail companies

Initiating Disclosure of Environmental Liability Information: An Empirical Analysis of Firm Choice

Green accounting: Reflections from a CSR and environmental disclosure perspective

Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research

Do actions speak louder than words? An empirical investigation of corporate environmental reputation

The language of US corporate environmental disclosure

The GAO investigation of corporate environmental disclosure: An opportunity missed

Corporate Charitable Contributions: A Corporate Social Performance or Legitimacy Strategy?

Does the Market Value Corporate Philanthropy? Evidence from the Response to the 2004 Tsunami Relief Effort

The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note

Corporate Political Strategy: An Examination of the Relation between Political Expenditures, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure

The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: a research note

Evidence on the pernicious effect of financial report environmental disclosure

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