A survey of environmental accounting and reporting in Bahrain

This survey examines the environmental awareness, current disclosure practices and problems associated with environmental accounting and reporting of twenty large and medium sized companies from the industrial sector in Bahrain. A review of literature from Western and Asia‐Pacific regions indicate a low level of environmental disclosure practices but there has been a considerable increase in the number of organisations performing environmental accounting and reporting. The present survey reveals that companies in Bahrain are environmentally sensitive, yet none of the companies are actually performing environmental accounting for external purposes. Half of them stated that they prepare environmental reporting for management requirements. A majority of them were strongly in favour of introducing accounting regulations in this area. Over 85% of them stated that both financial and non‐financial information should be reported. However, quantification and provision of information is both costly and subjective. The study concludes that in an unregulated environment, accountants and management of companies in Bahrain are likely to be less than objective in their environmental related disclosure practices in future.