Accounting Disclosure: Publication of Social/Environmental and Financial Aspects in Accounting Statements

Accounting constantly seeks to transform data and registers into useful, relevant and transparent information to serve the needs of as many people as possible. Since these needs and the level of knowledge among investors and other interested parties differs widely, we seek to address the question of the best way to disclose accounting information, to facilitate comprehension and interpretation of the social/environmental and financial aspects of interest to particular individuals. To do this, we conducted a bibliographical and documentary study using a sample of the financial statements published by industrial corporations in the state of Espirito Santo in 2003, covering the 2002 fiscal year. We found that the way such information is disclosed ranged from simple notes to the financial statements to more elaborate presentations in annual reports of management. We judged the latter to be a more flexible and interesting method of disclosing such information, based on the objectives proposed and theoretical references, considering the proxies used.