Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect the Cost of Bank Loans? Evidence from China

This article examines the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cost of bank loans (CBL) in China. We find that there exists an inverse U-shape relationship between CSR and CBL. In addition, CSR threshold for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is higher than for non-SOEs. In particular, CSR threshold for SOEs is lower in regions with high degree of marketization than in regions with low degree of marketization. The findings indicate that value-destroying effect occurs during CSR underinvestment phase, which is different from the overinvestment view. Moreover, the effect of CSR on CBL also depends on contextual factors such as firm ownership and marketization level.     

Financial Crisis,Politically Connected CEOs,and the Performance of State-Owned Enterprises: Evidence from Korea

This study examines under specific situations the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from two points of view—business performance and public performance. We find that SOEs with a politically connected CEO perform well even during a financial crisis as the SOEs are able to obtain more favorable treatment. However, the results imply that politically connected CEOs perform poorly when government subsidies are excluded as they may lack the skills for successful management. The results also confirm that SOEs encourage more corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities during a financial crisis in an effort to gain legitimacy by demonstrating that they are committed to social responsibility. However, politically connected CEOs have a negative effect on CSR performance during a financial crisis.     

How does mandatory CSR reporting affect supply chain? A new perspective from suppliers

Exploiting a quasi-natural experiment which mandates a subset of Chinese listed firms to report corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, this paper examines how mandatory CSR disclosure affects suppliers' willingness to extend trade credit. We document that mandatory CSR disclosure firms suffer a significant shrinking in the volume of trade credit, which is driven by the supply side instead of the demand side. Further mechanism analyses reveal that both financial condition deterioration and interest conflicts contribute to adverse policy effects. These two factors negatively impact the credit quality of mandatory firms and then weaken credit quality after the mandate subsequently undermines suppliers' willingness to lend. Additionally, the negative association between mandatory CSR disclosure and trade credit is mainly concentrated on highly policy-exposed corporates, that is, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and high-polluting firms. Our work innovatively evaluates CSR effects from the perspective of suppliers, which provides a new insight into CSR management along the supply chain for academics and practitioners.     

The absence of corporate social responsibility reporting in Bangladesh

This paper aims to broaden the present corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting literature by extending its focus to the absence of CSR reporting within a developing country, an area which, to date, is relatively under researched in comparison to the more widely studied presence of CSR reporting within developed Western countries. In particular this paper concentrates upon the lack of disclosure on three particular eco-justice issues: child labour, equal opportunities and poverty alleviation. We examine why this is the case and thereby illuminate underlying motives behind corporate unwillingness to address these issues. For this purpose, 23 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior corporate managers in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that the main reasons for non-disclosure include lack of resources, the profit imperative, lack of legal requirements, lack of knowledge/awareness, poor performance and the fear of bad publicity. Given these findings the paper raises some serious concerns as to why corporations would ever be expected to voluntarily report on eco-justice issues where performance is poor and negative publicity would be generated and profit impaired. Further research is still required to uncover current injustices and to imagine what changes can be made.     

国外公司社会责任报告主要模式述评

面对全球公司社会责任报告日益增多但又缺乏统一标准的情况，一些国际非政府组织开始着手建立统一的社会责任报告标准，形成了三种主要的报告模式：“全球报告行动”的G3报告框架、“国际社会责任”的SAS000标准，以及“社会和伦理责任协会”的AA1000系列。这三种模式在推动社会责任报告的共同目标下，既相互独立、各有侧重又相互联系、互为补充，同时也为认识我国公司社会责任报告的必要性、统一性和目的性提供了有益的启示。     

Corporate social responsibility assurance and reporting quality: Evidence from restatements

Previous research has shown that obtaining independent assurance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has capital market benefits and that these benefits are amplified when accountants provide the assurance. Yet, little is known about whether and the manner in which CSR assurance improves the quality of CSR reporting, and whether accounting providers improve reporting quality to a greater extent than non-accounting providers. This study uses the unique setting of CSR restatements to examine these issues. We present theoretical and empirical evidence supporting a competitive advantage of using accounting firms as assurance providers as they not only identify inaccuracies in previous reports earlier than non-accounting providers, but also prevent future reporting inaccuracies. CSR assurance, from either type of provider, also leads to improved reporting definitions, scopes, and methodologies that require restatements for comparability. Results also indicate that CSR reporting frameworks (e.g., GRI) are not a substitute for obtaining CSR assurance as the latter has incremental benefits over GRI usage in terms of identifying errors and reporting improvements. These results have implications for public policy makers considering the merits of mandating CSR assurance and for organizations assessing the relative benefits and costs of preparing GRI-based CSR reports, obtaining CSR assurance, and choosing between accounting vs. non-accounting CSR assurance providers.     

State-owned enterprises in China: A review of 40 years of research and practice

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are important components of the Chinese economy. Although SOEs are generally considered inefficient in operations, China’s economy, which relies heavily on SOEs, has been highly successful over the last four decades. This indicates the importance of SOEs in China’s past and future economic success. Therefore, in this study, we review the literature on economic theories and 40 years of practice of Chinese SOEs and discuss implications for future research. Our review consists of four parts: the theories of SOEs and their reform, the performance and financing strategies of SOEs, corporate governance in SOEs, and corporate social responsibility in SOEs.     

Corporate social responsibility reporting: A comprehensive picture?

This study develops a content analysis framework that provides information on the comprehensiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, an important aspect of social and environmental accountability. Comprehensive reporting, as defined here, requires three types of information for each disclosed CSR item: (i) vision and goals, (ii) management approach, and (iii) performance indicators. The feasibility of the framework to assess the comprehensiveness of CSR reporting is demonstrated using the 2005 annual reports of a sample of publicly traded Belgian companies. The content analysis reveals a low level of comprehensive reporting. This finding complements those of prior studies on the completeness of CSR reporting and, therefore, feeds the debate regarding the extent to which CSR reporting can be considered a mechanism for discharging social and environmental accountability.     

Political embeddedness and firms’ choices of earnings management strategies in China

We examine whether and how political embeddedness influences financial reporting quality in China by investigating how government ownership and political connections affect Chinese listed firms’ choices of earnings management strategies. The results show that state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and in particular, central SOEs, are more likely to substitute accrual-based earnings management strategies with costlier but less detectable real earnings management strategies than non-SOEs. The results also indicate that politically connected enterprises (PCEs) are more likely to employ less detectable real earnings management strategies than non-PCEs, so much so that PCEs’ total earnings management level is higher than that of non-PCEs.     

Do Female Executives Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility?

How do female executives view corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between female executives and CSR. We select a sample of Chinese listed firms and use propensity score matching to construct a new sample of firms and evaluate the gender transition (from male to female) of chief executive officers or board chairpersons (executives) who are randomly assigned to firms (i.e., the gender transition of executives is regarded as an exogenous event). Subsequently, we use a difference-in-differences approach to identify the pure effect of female executives on CSR. Our results indicate that female executives are more likely to encourage CSR reporting. Moreover, we suggest that the mechanism behind female executives prioritizing CSR is altruism preference rather than risk aversion preference.     

Mandatory CSR disclosure,monitoring and investment efficiency: evidence from China

This study investigates the effect of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on firms’ investment efficiency in China. Using the CSR regulation that mandates a group of listed firms to disclose stand‐alone CSR reports after 2008 as a natural experiment, we find that firms subject to the mandatory CSR regulation have decreased investment inefficiency subsequent to the mandate, especially in cases of overinvestment. This effect is more pronounced for firms with a control‐ownership wedge, state‐owned enterprises (SOEs), and firms having lower institutional ownership. Further analyses find that the reduction of overinvestment is much more significant in industries with high pollution and that the reduction in investment is not due to the CSR spending siphoning off capital used in other projects. We argue that mandatory corporate social responsibility disclosure improves monitoring over firms in China, especially when firms are characterised as having severe agency problems.     

Hadfields Ltd: its annual general meetings 1903–1939 and their relevance for contemporary corporate social reporting

Little attention has been given to studies of the historical antecedents of corporate social reporting (CSR). The paper looks at the disclosures made by Hadfields Ltd and other British companies at the beginning of the 20th century, and finds that these included topics such as economic, political and industrial relations conditions, in a style analogous to that employed in CSR reporting today, during periods of difficulty and conflict for the reporting companies. The paper concludes that these findings support the argument that CSR may be less a reflection of a new relationship between companies and society than another form of what Milne calls ‘advocacy advertising’.     

信息披露与国有股权私有化中的盈余管理

国有股权私有化是我国国有企业改革的重要措施。国有股权私有化过程中是否存在影响国有股权转让价格的盈余管理行为,以及如何抑制这种盈余管理,是我国国有企业改革中需要予以回答的重大问题。本文以我国通过控制权转移进行私有化的上市公司为样本,研究了国有股权私有化过程中的盈余管理以及信息披露对盈余管理影响的问题。研究发现,国有企业在国有股权私有化前1年和当年的操控性应计项目显著小于0,而私有化后的第1年显著大于0;及时披露国有股权私有化信息的公司在私有化前的操控性应计项目显著大于滞后披露信息的公司。以上结果表明,国有企业在国有股权私有化前存在降低收益的盈余管理行为,信息及时披露对私有化前的盈余管理有显著的抑制作用。本文的研究结论对规范我国国有企业改制和国有产权转让行为具有重要启示。     

State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China

This paper finds that compared with non-state-owned firms, Chinese state-owned enterprises controlled by province, city, and county governments (local SOEs) are more likely to hire small auditors within the same region (small local auditors). In regions with less developed institutions, SOEs controlled by central government (central SOEs) also have such a tendency. However, the tendency of local and central SOEs to hire small local auditors is attenuated as the institutions develop. This auditor choice pattern is likely to be explained by SOEs’ lack of demand for large or non-local auditors, small local auditors’ superior local knowledge, and SOEs’ collusion incentives.     

Top executives’ early-life experience and financial disclosure quality: impact from the Great Chinese Famine

This study investigates the impact of top executives’ Great Chinese Famine experience on firm financial disclosure quality. We find firms led by top executives who experienced the great famine in early life are less likely to conduct fraudulent financial reporting. The famine effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), smaller-cap, lower-profitability level firms and firms with weaker external monitoring. Further evidence suggests that top executives with great famine experience show greater tendency to implement secured debt structure, effective internal control and spend less on entertainment and travel costs, which in turn reduce the likelihood of fraudulent financial reporting.     

Financial restructuring of state owned enterprises in China: the case of Shanghai Sunve Pharmaceutical Corporation

This paper studies the financial conditions of a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) under economic reform. To derive useful financial information from Chinese SOE's socialist accounting records, I analyse the firm's financial structure, measure the implicit economic compensation for workers, and estimate the implicit taxes in the form of compulsory social services. These analyses cast light to various issues related to the reform of SOEs. The paper suggests possible models of financial restructuring of SOEs. A case study on Shanghai Sunve Pharmaceutical Corp illustrates the financial restructuring of SOEs in China.     

Socially Responsible Investment and Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting in the UK: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory study examines the relations between corporate social and environmental reporting (CSR) and the socially responsible investment (SRI) sector. The evidence presented, based upon the informed opinions of 14 experts within the SRI field, suggests that the field of CSR is on the verge of a major change towards a substantial and sustained improvement in quality and quantity. The SRI sector is undergoing radical changes. A wider social movement has already led to exponential growth, as more people become concerned with how their money is invested. Moreover, the Pensions Review has widened this concern to institutional investment. Representing 35% of the stock market, the potential impact of this regulation is anticipated to be significant. One possible outcome could be a marked increase in the size and power of the SRI sector, improving their ability to successfully influence corporate behaviour. Success is likely to increase further as corporations begin to see a business case, as well as, or as opposed to a moral case, for acting in a more responsible manner. The Turnbull report on the combined codes of corporate governance is a significant factor influencing this. For the first time, reputational risk, and hence how companies manage environmental, ethical and social reputations, is on the core corporate governance agenda. A more powerful outcome would be an increased interest from mainstream fund managers in SRI modes of corporate assessment. Preliminary evidence suggests that this will create a greater demand for CSR, and greater legitimacy of CSR within the accounting orthodoxy.     

Determinants of CSR Reporting and Assurance: An Analysis of Top Cooperative and Mutual Organisations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has greatly influenced business communication. CSR reporting has become the main tool through which organisations worldwide communicate their economic, social and environmental performance. Just as this practice is consolidated, the need for credible information in this area is critical. As a result, some companies subject their CSR reports to an assurance process. Several studies have analysed CSR reporting and assurance among stock companies, but few authors have developed a non‐stock firm perspective. Given the shortage of prior research, we analyse these practices, focusing on cooperative and mutual organisations because, as social enterprises, they have a special link with CSR, and they represent another kind of firm with different transaction costs. By combining statistical and content analysis methods, we aim to identify the determinants that influence the adoption of CSR reporting and assurance, the choice of assuror and the quality of assurance statements. The findings reveal that size is positively but non‐linearly related to reporting, while country and sector significantly affect the adoption of reporting and assurance. Assurance statements substantially differ across providers and their quality depends on size, sector and assuror, exhibiting interactions between size and assuror and between sector and assuror.