Internet Financial and Environmental Disclosures: An Islamic and Conventional Thereotical Perspective

Abstract

For more than one decade, a new media has been used in business sector and communication;many firms in different countries are using the internet to present their products and also to disclose their information (fiancial and environmental). The level of using such media too has increased over the last couple of years in the corporate world. Major characteristic of the internet is that information can be accessed almost any time and from anywhere. A number of researchers have identified internet reporting as the most efficient instrument to communicate with the external environment. Within the disclosure literature, several theoretical perspectives have been used to explain this development in financial and environmental disclosure approach through the internet. Although there exist a number of related theories in relation to internet disclosure, but none has discussed from an Islamic perspective. This paper attempts to provide an overview of conventional and Islamic perspectives on financial and environmental disclosures.