Does CFO Expertise Matter? A Case of Corporate Water Reporting among Malaysian Public Listed Companies

Purpose: This study examines the influence of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) expertise on the corporate water reporting among 201 public listed companies in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: Using a self-developed disclosure index, it content analysed annual reports and stand-alone sustainabilit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGlobal business and management research Vol. 10; no. 3; p. 239
Main Authors Alrazi, Bakhtiar, Husin, Norhayati Mat, Ali, Inaliah Mohd
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boca Raton Mehran Nejati 01.07.2018
Subjects
Annual reports
Archives & records
Carbon
Chief financial officers
Climate change
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Emissions
Investigations
Oil spills
Roles
Social responsibility
Sustainability
Sustainability reporting
Theory
United States > US
Malaysia
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Summary:Purpose: This study examines the influence of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) expertise on the corporate water reporting among 201 public listed companies in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: Using a self-developed disclosure index, it content analysed annual reports and stand-alone sustainability reports for the year 2016. Following Sun and Rakhman (2013), CFO expertise is measured based on experience, education, and professional expertise. Additionally, we included age and gender. It utilises resource-based theory to explain any variation in the reporting practices. Findings: The result suggested that education - whether the CFO has a postgraduate degree in business or not - plays an important role in determining the extent of corporate water reporting among the sample companies. A closer investigation on the role of professional expertise provides tentative evidence that companies with CFO who have MICPA qualifications tended to provide more extensive corporate water reporting. Research limitations/implications: Since the study is cross sectional, it only provides a snapshot view of the reporting practice. The number of expertise variables analysed is limited and based on the information provided in the corporate reports. Practical implications: The finding of this study helps companies to identify the expertise required of CFO to help them steer their journey towards sustainability. Originality/value: This study fills the gap in the extant corporate social and environmental reporting literature which lacked emphasis on the roles of CFO and analysis of water-related disclosures.
ISSN:1947-5667