Plenary Lecture
Popularity of CSR Reporting – Why Companies Report CSR Activities?
Professor Jiří Strouhal
Department of Finance and Accounting
Skoda Auto University Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic
E-mail: ystrouhal@is.savs.cz
Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (hereinafter CSR) has reached significant importance in contemporary theory as well as professional practice. Increasing numbers of companies are starting to implement CSR policy in their everyday business practice and as a result the information regarding this activity is disclosed in CSR reports or within annual reports.
Within the contemporary research about CSR these trends are visible: (i) linkage between costs and benefits from CSR, and (ii) factors affecting the extent of CSR in respected jurisdiction. The current trade literature suggests that the major factors influencing the extent of company’s CSR are: (i) profitability, (ii) size, (iii) financial leverage, (iv) market-to-book value, (v) liquidity, (vi) ownership structure.
In most countries CSR reporting is voluntary. Therefore companies choose various means to disclose CSR related information, either in the form of standalone CSR reports or in the form of disclosure in the annual financial reports. The last option is most widely used as companies find it requires less time and effort. The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting conducted in 2013 revealed that there is a growing trend in CSR reporting all over the world, with the strongest growth observed in the Asia Pacific region.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Jiří Strouhal is Full Professor of the Department of Finance and Accounting of Skoda Auto University Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. He is also with the Department of Strategy of University of Economics Prague, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 2005 and later received habilitation and full professorship.
He is the author of more than 30 monographers, 50 journal papers within ISI/SCOPUS databases. With WSEAS association he published 3 books. Since 2011 he is a president of the Association of Czech Professional Accountants. He’s also editor-in-chief of NAUN’s International Journal of Economics and Statistics and is member of editorial board of some WSEAS Transactions journals.
His research interest covers: corporate finance, accounting, business valuation, design thinking.