One key theme in the work here has
been the exploration of trends and patterns
in disclosure by UK companies.
Gray, Kouhy and Lavers, (1995a;
1995b) were a response to a number of
factors. These factors included: the diversity
and inconsistency of studies of
social reporting; lack of consistency in
measurement methods; lack of formal
theorising; the absence of longitudinal
studies; and, most especially, the lack of
datasets for UK researchers.
These papers laid out, carefully, how
semiotic meaning could be used consistently
in content analysis (the principal
means of measuring social disclosure)
and introduced the need for decision
rules and consistency. (These are matters
very competently developed in Hackston
and Milne, 1996; and Milne and Adler,
1999). However, for reasons which remain
unclear, social accounting researchers
still do not approach their
work with consistency in their description
and measurement of social disclosure
and, consequently, the comparability
of studies remains a restriction on the
field..