Abstract
According to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, publicly-traded listed corporations in Japan are required to disclose their financial reports to financers and the public within three months after each account closing date. Occupational safety and health (OSH) status are not statutory entries on the financial reports, and hence are disclosed by only 0.3 % of approximately 3,000 listed publicly-traded corporations. Even disclosed information on OSH is poorly indicated. The very limited number of companies and limited OSH content illustrates the negative attitude of Japanese corporations regarding disclosure of information that could be used for comparisons despite non-financial issues. In contrast, corporations in the U.S. and Europe exhibit quite a different attitude on disclosure, since both corporations and institutional investors respect the culture, value, and philosophy of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Many Japanese corporations believe that the information on OSH is a matter of labor customs or legal regulations rather than a financial issue, a fact that has disrupted disclosure on OSH from the CSR viewpoint. Globalization of financial and capital markets and the future introduction of international accounting standards will lead Japanese corporations to properly disclose all kinds of information, whether non-financial or financial. Corporations or business operators will also need to develop the ability to express their views on worker protection. Comparing the disclosure of OSH information on financial reports of Japanese and European corporations, this paper explores the potential strategies that we should take to improve worker safety and health via improved practices of corporate accounting.
