This work investigates the content and form of socio-economic and environmental information published in the financial statements of traded and non-traded Brazilian companies in the State of Bahia. It is an exploratory study in that it uses bibliographic review and documentary research, covering financial statements from a sample of 195 Brazilian companies in the State of Bahia. It is observed that the inclusion of information of this type, in published financial statements, is still not common, and that in Brazil, the non-compulsory nature of including this kind of information, as well as the lack of a standard model to follow, creates barriers to its effective use for decision-making by the users of financial information.