企业社会责任信息披露制度的研究

随着全球经济一体化进程的加快,发源于西方的企业社会责任运动在我国悄然兴起.我国目前企业社会责任信息披露理论还不完善.应当强制上市企业披露社会责任报告,鼓励其他企业自愿披露社会责任报告.企业社会责任报告应当全面地反映企业各方面的信息,以利于利益相关者根据报告做出决策.文章最后通过介绍德国企业的做法,给我们以启示.     

环境信息披露动因理论研究综述与评述

本文回顾了国内外有关环境信息披露动因的理论研究,分别从信号显示理论、利益相关者理论、合法性理论、代理理论和政治经济学五个角度对国外研究现状进行了分析,从信号显示、利益相关者角度对国内研究进行了分析,并对国内外研究差距作了分析。     

上市公司自愿信息披露动机文献综述

在瞬息万变的现代社会中，信息披露越及时，对投资者的价值越大，决策有用性就越强。虽然我国目前要求企业强制披露信息，但信息披露的时间和内容都是掌握在管理者手中的．管理者是可以进行选择性披露。因此，了解管理者披露信息的动机．找出影响其自愿披露的因素，在目前显得尤为重要。     

舆论监督、政府监管与企业环境信息披露

本文基于政治学的合法性理论,并借助新闻学的议程设置概念,在企业与社会的关系背景下研究企业披露环境信息的动机。本文以我国重污染行业上市公司为研究样本,分析舆论监督和政府监管对企业环境信息披露的作用,以及政府监管对舆论监督作用的影响。研究发现:(1)媒体有关企业环境表现的报道能显著促进企业环境信息披露水平;(2)地方政府对企业环境信息披露的监管能显著提高企业的环境信息披露水平并增强舆论监督的作用。本文的研究发现为认识企业环境信息披露的合法性动机、以及舆论监督和政府监管对企业环境信息披露的影响提供了新的视角和证据,同时也为信息披露的非经济性动机研究做出了文献上的贡献。     

上市公司分部信息披露动因与约束

分部信息的披露主体主要是上市公司.公司出于竞争投资者有限的资金等目的有自愿披露分部信息的动因.由于分部信息披露存在成本,在没有管制的情况下,企业出于自身利益最大化考虑,将通过对收益和成本的权衡来决定分部信息披露.由于分部信息披露的外部性、分部信息分布的不对称性等,不能完全依赖于自愿披露,必须对分部信息披露进行适度的管制,强制公司披露分部信息.     

信息披露制度变迁与欺诈管制

在自愿信息披露制度下,资质优良、业绩不俗的公司有动力通过自愿信息披露突出自身竞争优势。本文具体分析了自愿信息披露行为作为一种信号传递机制必须满足的三个假设,即理性的管理者、知情投资者和真实信息披露;在自愿信息披露弱化的三种情况下,强制信息披露制度成为提升信息披露的必然手段,信息披露制度也由自愿向强制转变,但同时伴随信息披露制度的变迁产生了新的联合欺诈行为;因此,信息欺诈贯穿整个信息披露制度的变迁过程,无论强制披露制度还是自愿披露制度,其根本目的在于对信息欺诈的禁止,但欺诈并没有因制度的变迁而消失,所以解决信息欺诈的关键在于建立反欺诈管制,只有这样才能从根本上阻止信息欺诈的行为。     

企业环境信息披露与股权融资相关性研究

高质量的环境信息披露可以建立良好的企业形象,向利益相关者传递关于企业经营及发展的有效信息.股权融资是企业赖以生存的主要资金来源.因此,本文将企业的环境信息披露状况与股权融资联系在一起,在信号传递理论的框架下,以企业的环境信息披露为中心,探讨了环境信息披露与企业股权融资的关系.     

智力资本信息披露困境评析

本文依据“资源基础论”阐述智力资本与企业持续竞争位势之间的关系,指出智力资本信息披露对企业外部利益相关者的重要性,分析目前智力资本信息披露的困境,并从产权制度、会计模式、产品市场竞争、信息披露政治动机、智力资本理论发展等多个角度剖析智力资本信息披露困境的根源,提出促进智力资本信息披露的几点建议。     

碳信息披露、碳业绩与资本成本

为应对气候变化挑战,越来越多企业自愿披露碳信息。本研究考察碳信息披露、碳业绩与资本成本之间关系。利用联立方程模型和标准普尔500企业样本,我们发现:资本成本与碳信息披露负相关,这符合自愿披露理论预测。而且,对于碳业绩好的企业,这个负相关关系更弱。我们还发现,碳信息披露与碳业绩负相关,这与合法性理论预测一致。研究表明,碳信息披露是企业的理性选择。企业披露碳信息旨在减轻合法性压力,降低资本成本。     

企业环境信息披露影响因素实证分析:2010~2011年A股重污染行业上市公司观察

以2010～2011年A股重污染行业上市公司作为研究对象,从产品市场竞争、公司治理角度考察了企业环境信息披露的影响因素。结果显示：公司治理结构的合理安排能够对提升企业环境信息披露质量产生一定的积极作用,但是产品市场竞争与公司治理机制之间的关系尚不明确。本文的研究结论意味着,在我国当前的制度背景下,要提高企业环境信息披露水平,保护利益相关者利益,有必要继续完善上市公司治理结构;同时,本研究也说明产品市场竞争并不能解释重污染行业企业环境信息披露的动机。     

公众参与、监管信息公开与城市环境治理 ——基于35个重点城市的面板数据分析

依据2011-2017年中国35个重点城市面板数据,考量公众参与、监管信息公开对城市环境治理的影响.结果表明:公众参与度提高能形成对政府环境规制和企业污染排放的监督,降低城市污染物的排放强度;监管信息公开能缓解政府、企业和公众之间的信息不对称,提高公众环境认知能力,强化对公众参与城市环境治理的行为激励.畅通公众环境利益诉求的反馈渠道,构建基于环境监管信息公开沟通平台,有助于提高公众和政府共同推进城市环境治理的积极性和有效性.     

Voluntary CSR disclosure,institutional environment,and independent audit demand

Using a sample of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, this study examines the impact of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on independent audit demand in different institutional environments. The sample covers the 2008–2016 period and excludes firms that are required to disclose CSR information. The findings show that compared with companies that choose to not disclose such information, companies that voluntarily disclose CSR information prefer to employ “small” accounting firms for auditing services, although the auditing fees are much higher. However, as the institutional environment improves, this preference is weakened. Further analyses show that this preference is stronger in enterprises where CSR disclosure is driven by strong political motivations and managerial self-interest motivations. Legitimate motivations and economic motivations do not significantly impact the preference for “small” audit firms. Furthermore, this preference is more obvious in enterprises with poor operational performance and low information disclosure quality, and it increases as CSR disclosure level decreases. The study enriches our understanding of the economic consequences of voluntary CSR disclosure and the factors that influence independent audit demand. The results also have implications for the construction and regulation of China’s system for supervising CSR information disclosure in the transitional phase.     

Voluntary Disclosure of Bad News

Abstract:   This paper shows that in a voluntary disclosure environment entailing both a fixed disclosure cost and a variable proprietary cost, partial disclosure equilibria may arise in which firms voluntarily disclose bad private information to the public. Furthermore, it is shown that such equilibria may arise more frequently as the threat of incuring proprietary cost increases and/or the proprietary cost itself increases.     

Global warming, commitment to the Kyoto protocol, and accounting disclosures by the largest global public firms from polluting industries

This study evaluates disclosures on pollution and greenhouse gases by firms domiciled in countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol compared to others. The study is based on disclosures made in the annual reports, environmental reports, and websites of 120 of the largest (in terms of revenues) public firms from the chemical, oil and gas, energy, and motor vehicles and casualty insurance industries. The study uses content analysis to construct weighted and unweighted disclosure indices.The results show that firms from countries that ratified the Protocol have higher disclosure indexes as compared to firms in other countries. Additionally, larger firms disclose more detailed pollution information. Multinational firms that operate in countries that ratified the Protocol but have their home offices in countries that did not are associated with lower disclosures. This lack of consistency in disclosure is not likely to be helpful in informing shareholders about the social responsibility of their investments.     

Disclosures of Social Value Creation and Managing Legitimacy: A Case Study of Three Global Social Enterprises

This study seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining how and whether disclosure of social value creation becomes a part of the legitimation strategies of social enterprises. In particular, using Suchman's (1995) moral dimension of legitimacy theory, this study sets out whether and how disclosures by three global social organisations – Grameen Bank, Charity Water and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – conform to the expectations of the broader community. The study finds that there is an apparent disconnection between disclosure and action by social enterprises. With reference to a few incidents, social enterprises use disclosure as a part of their managerial efforts, rather than to create moral legitimacy. The notion of apparent disconnection between disclosure and real action by social enterprises is evident. The notion is consistent with extant disclosure literature capturing the motivations for the disclosure practices of corporations. The findings of this paper suggest that when an organisation (whether it is a corporation or a social enterprise) faces a legitimacy crisis, it appears to disclose good news rather than bad news, which calls into question organisational moral legitimacy.     

Voluntary disclosure of corporate venture capital investments

In this paper, we investigate drivers of corporate venture capital investment announcements. Consistent with voluntary information disclosure theories, we find that a public announcement is less likely to be made when the start-up firm is in the seed stage but more likely when the parent company is large, active in concentrated markets and in non-high-tech industries; spends heavily on internal R&D and capital expenditures; has low leverage ratio; and faces more information asymmetry problems. In addition, corporate venture capital programs managed externally disclose more often than internal programs. We find that parent companies facing more severe asymmetric information problems enjoy the highest abnormal returns in response to announcements. This study contributes to the literature on voluntary information disclosure in that it evidences that larger corporations use disclosure of some of their investments in innovative startups strategically as a way to convey valuable information to the market.     

Silence can be golden: On the value of allowing managers to keep silent when information is soft

Most information that public firms are required to disclose is relatively hard (e.g., historical information), whereas the disclosure of relevant information that is softer in nature (e.g., forward-looking information) is typically left to firms' discretion. The lack of a mandatory requirement to disclose soft information has been at the heart of a number of on-going accounting debates. This study shows that while mandating disclosure increases the frequency of disclosure, it results in a reduction in disclosure quality when information is soft. By exploring this tradeoff, the paper sheds light on the merits of restricting mandatory disclosure requirements to verifiable information and leaving disclosure of soft information unregulated. The value of leaving disclosure unregulated is shown to be maximized when managers are given bonus-based compensation, with minimum performance thresholds and maximum caps, similar to those documented in the literature.     

Product market competition and the disclosure of supply chain information

We investigate how product market competition affects corporate voluntary disclosure decisions, specifically regarding supply-chain information. Our results, based on a sample of manufacturing companies listed in China from 2010 to 2016, show that companies in more competitive industries disclose less customer/supplier information. The main results stand through several robustness tests. Further analyses show that the negative relationship between product market competitiveness and supply-chain information disclosure is stronger when the disclosure contains more incremental information and when competitors are more capable of gaining competitive advantage using the disclosed information. Our study contributes to the understanding of both the relationship between product market competition and voluntary disclosure decisions and the regulation of information disclosure to build a transparent capital market.     

A comparison of voluntary and mandated climate change-related disclosure

This study draws on legitimacy theory to investigate the relationship between mandatory disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions by companies that are subject to specific environmental legislation (the Australian National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Act 2007) and the level of voluntary environmental disclosures. Using a sample of 535 observations, we find that i) Overall, legislation-affected companies increase their disclosures compared with non-affected companies, ii) As many companies reduce their disclosures as increase them, iii) there is an increase in the level of emissions volume disclosures in legislation-affected companies compared with the same company pre-implementation, iv) legislation-affected higher emitters have higher levels of voluntary disclosures. These findings are consistent with legitimacy theory, which predicts differential disclosures in circumstances to avoid scrutiny.