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In 2014, the European Union (EU) adopted the non-financial reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) making the disclosure of certain non-financial topics mandatory for large listed companies. They are required to report on policies, actions and outcomes regarding their environmental impact, social and employee matters, impact on human rights and corruption. Denmark introduced mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting already in 2009, while Germany had no specific legislation on CSR reporting before 2017. Some authors allege that regulation positively impacts CSR reporting, while others argue that the voluntary nature of CSR reporting is essential (Romolini, Fissi, & Gori, 2014). Critics of mandatory reporting claim that non-financial reporting should develop bottom-up, as mandatory one-size-fits-all solutions are inappropriate given the differences among companies (ICC, 2015). The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the effect of legislation on reporting quality by comparing Denmark with a long tradition for mandatory reporting and Germany introducing mandatory rather recently. However, a rich body of literature exists on factors impacting CSR reporting other than legislation. These are among others: firm size, ownership structure, industrial sector and culture (Hahn & Kühnen, 2013.)

The chapter applies a content analysis of 150 CSR reports from German and Danish listed companies between 2008 and 2017 from four different industrial sectors. The chapter finds that mandatory reporting improves overall report quality by lifting the quality floor, yet, without lifting the quality ceiling. Size is important as improvements in reporting are largest in small and medium-sized companies. Companies in environmentally sensitive sectors tend to disclose more relevant environmental information than companies in less sensitive sectors. Both culture and ownership structure has a moderating effect on report quality.

The spotlight of this chapter is to understand the connection between public policy and corporate social responsibility (CSR); in other words – the institutionalization of CSR. What is the role of the government for setting standards and mandating for ensuring responsibility? The emerging accepted wisdom in policy and academic circles is that many sustainability solutions are likely to result from institutional (i.e., governance) reform. A perceptive on CSR evolving as an institution of broader societal governance appears as a promising opportunity to delve into at a point in time when conventional rules, actors, and markets that steered the global economy demonstrate to be undergoing credibility crisis. CSR therefore must be considered within the wider field of institutions for governing the corporation and the economy. This chapter is exploratory as it dwells into theoretical underpinning of emerging mandatory CSR as well as provides empirical mapping of corporate responses to the new enacted legislation. The CSR analysis presented is based on a content analysis of the information contained in the annual reports of some prominent companies, government documents, audits reports, companies websites, and newspaper reports, which will provide us evidences of responses of corporates toward the CSR provisions.

This study applies social identity theory (SIT) to explore the perceptual differences among various stakeholder groups regarding the relevance of social and environmental accounting (SEA), SEA education and mandatory disclosure of SEA.

The study adopts a mixed method applying a qualitative and quantitative approach. In total, 325 structured questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively, using ANOVA and group comparison methods. Responses from 18 interviews were analyzed qualitatively to provide complementary evidence for the quantitative study.

There were significant differences between various stakeholder groups regarding the relevance of SEA practice and SEA education. Regulators were mostly affected by considerations about the external perception of work quality, followed by financiers. Practitioners and shareholders were influenced by the ability of SEA in its current state to affect actual work quality. This possibly indicates that academic qualifications have marginal effects on predicting considerations about SEA compared to social identity.

This is the first application of SIT to SEA research and contributes to the effort to improve SEA within emerging economies, highlighting that a one-size-fits-all approach may be ineffective.

This study analyses the scope of social and environmental reporting from the perspective of integrating it in financial reporting and comments on a new approach regarding the presentation of social and environmental information in the annual reports from Romanian companies’ perspective.

A literature review introduces and justifies the second part of the research. The latter is organised as an exploratory study based on interviews. It presents the current state of Romanian companies’ availability for reconsidering financial reporting from the perspective of corporate social responsibility.

While social and environmental involvement of Romanian companies is at an early stage, there is a basis for future development of corporate reporting by addressing social and environmental aspects. We noticed that companies have the tendency of responding rather to a mandatory framework than a voluntary one.

The limitations of the research are linked to the study population. The small number of Romanian companies that publicly manifest interest for social responsibility determined the choice of a qualitative instead of a quantitative research.

The exploratory study based on the case of Romania accompanies the present state of non-financial versus financial reporting in order to highlight measurable and non-measurable, but relevant, information to be considered in a future reporting framework.

The study advances new lines in accounting research by confronting the national and international perspectives of social and environmental reporting. Debates and arguments on the research results add value and utility to the research.

Our paper explores the evolution in the reporting of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for 115 Canadian firms (51 cross-listed on U.S. stock exchanges) throughout the seven year period of 1999–2006, which was the period before and after SOX and Bill 198 were enacted, resulting in a period of increasing pressure for CSR and CSR disclosure (Ballou, Heitger, & Landes, 2006). We examined CSR scores for Canadian firms listed only on Canadian stock exchanges and for Canadian firms cross-listed on U.S. exchanges. During this period, our analysis shows an overall decrease in CSR scores for all Canadian firms in our sample, and for both our subsamples of firms: Canadian firms cross-listed on U.S. stock exchanges and Canadian firms listed only on Canadian exchanges. Our analysis suggests that as a result of increased scrutiny facilitated by the regulatory changes, CSR disclosures become more transparent and comprehensive: CSR Strengths and CSR Weaknesses Scores both declined after 2002 resulting in an overall decline in Total CSR scores. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Traditional artisans are the worst victims of globalisation and corporate entry into their local economy and hand-driven production processes. For their rehabilitation, protection, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage, embedded, inter alia, in the built environment, a suitable framework need to be crafted within the broad domain of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) envisaged under The Indian Companies Act, 2013. Conceived in the above backdrop, the study attempts to situate traditional artisans as stakeholders worthy of development interventions under CSR. For want of studies and notable interventions in the above context, few small CSR cases are reviewed and a number of worthwhile areas of interventions are proposed in terms of a wish list, drawn from the socio, economic, educational, employment and cultural milieu of traditional artisans. It is found that they come under the discretionary category of stakeholders, who possess the attribute of legitimacy, but they have no power to influence the firms and no urgent claims. The study points to the necessity for establishing a National Artisans’ Rehabilitation and Development Fund, besides artisan-friendly sharpening of the schedule of CSR activities in the Indian context.

International business research is showing an increasing interest in the link between international business and human rights. Despite extensive coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, the analysis and discussion of why multinational corporations include human rights in corporate reporting is still in its early stages. This chapter develops an analytical framework on corporate human rights reporting, with special emphasis on international business. The conceptual part of the framework draws on legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and signalling theory. The analytical part distinguishes between factors inside the corporation and the external environment of business organisations operating internationally.

Introduction: Nonfinancial reporting is the way in which a company provides information to stakeholders on the social, environmental, and economic impact and performance of its past and present activities. Aim: The objective of the chapter is to analyze the stage and the way of implementation of the requirements of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive by the Romanian companies. Method: In order to carry out the study, we analyzed, structured, and synthesized the public information in order to identify companies that have the obligation to report, thus 721 companies were identified with more than 500 employees on December 31, 2019. Results: The main identified characteristics of the companies consisted in the fact that most of them carried out the activity in the manufacturing industry, had their headquarters in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, most of the companies operating according to Company Law were not listed on the stock exchange. Regarding the financial indicators, 81% of companies registred profit and 52% had a turnover of more than 50 million euros. Regarding the manner of application of the Directive requirements, from the analyzed sample of 22 companies listed on the stock exchange, it was found that 41% of the companies chose to present the nonfinancial information in a separate report. Conclusion: The level of compliance with reporting requirements is still uncertain, as for most companies the information are not public, only listed companies are concerned with improving reporting. İmplications and Originality of the Chapter: The study may be a benchmark in further analysis of the transparency of nonfinancial information conducted by companies and may help in future analysis of their evolution over time.

Two major obstacles to tourism development in India have been identified as shortage of skilled manpower and dearth of rural tourism projects. Through the provisions under Section 135 of the new Companies Act 2013, the Indian government has initiated a reform process on how private companies, including leading hospitality businesses, should conduct their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Recognizing this opportunity for action, this paper looks at the opportunity for tourism growth under the new CSR regime by reviewing the barriers for hospitality companies falling under the ambit of Section 135 to make CSR investments toward tourism development. Upon establishing these barriers, the argument reviews the current CSR trends and the absence of diversification in spending CSR funds. Finally, the paper discusses the need for enhancing the capacity of tourism NGOs in India and for developing strategic partnerships between these institutions and hospitality companies.

Research in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a trending topic in recent years. Research that is often done is related to CSR disclosure, mostly for large companies. Likewise, the current standards and guidelines ignore micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). On the other hand, the MSME business sector in the world also impacts the economy, social, and environment, so CSR is needed. CSR activities and reporting cannot be separated from the concept of materiality due to a large amount of leeway in management’s discretion regarding topics and aspects. The purpose of this study is to analyze the issue of MSMEs materiality. The samples collected were 33 MSMEs. The research results show that the material issues for both sectors are similar, which are customer care and satisfaction (profit), employee rights, training and development (people), electricity consumption, and waste management (planet). The concept of materiality is expected to play an important role in MSMEs as a CSR strategy so that MSMEs can apply it to their business practices. Thus, MSMEs pay attention to profit, social, and environment, which is interpreted simply. The management of MSMEs can use this result to formulate CSR’s business strategies and apply them to their business practices. Thus, MSMEs can play a role in sustainability, which is expected to improve financial performance.