Do The Earnings Management, Governance, Media Exposure, and Ownership Structure Have Any Effect on ESG Disclosure?

Previous study has shown various results for the relationship between good corporate governance (GCG), and company ownership to corporate social responsibility (CSR) governance. The environmental, social and governance (ESG) is one dimension of CSR governance. Using legitimacy theory, this study conducts to answer the gap by exploring real earnings management practice towards ESG. We use financial data and CSR governance from Bloomberg ESG database. The samples are 27 companies for the period 2012-2016. The findings suggest that GCG influence positively to ESG disclosure. In addition, we find that real earnings management (represent by Abnormal Cash Flow from Operation and Abnormal Production) has a positive effect on ESG disclosure. However, no evidence yet exist that Abnormal Discretionary Expense has a significant effect on ESG disclosure. We also demonstrate how the company ownership influences the disclosure. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on real earnings management rather than abnormal discretionary accrual.