Professional financial statement users’ perceived value of carbon accounting disclosures and decision context

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to investigate how professional financial statement users use carbon accounting information in their decisions and whether this use is sensitive to changing the decision context from an investment to a donation. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 173 US professional financial statement users, the authors conduct an experiment that manipulates an investment or donation choice to evaluate how differing levels of carbon sequestration affect decision-making across contexts. Findings: Carbon sequestration information affects users’ donation decisions but does not affect investment decisions. Variation in the reliability of the information and whether the infor..