Integrated information and the cost of capital

The growing requirements for corporate transparency have encouraged companies to report their performance to shareholders, investors and society in general from the economic, social and environmental points of view. However, many reports involve difficulties at the moment of analysing the information. To help minimize this problem, the integrated report has arisen. This document integrates all the financial, social and environmental information, jointly disclosing the key performance statistics.Previous research has revealed that disclosing financial information gives important economic advantages to companies. This work aims to extend the existing empirical evidence, analysing the effect that the disclosure of integrated information has on the cost of capital. Accordingly, we used a sample of 995 companies in 27 countries and 3294 observations. The period in which the sample was taken was from 2009 to 2013. The results, after applying the panel data methodology, confirmed that a negative relationship exists between the cost of capital and the disclosure of an integrated report. The reduction of the cost of capital as a result of the disclosure of an integrated report is especially relevant to those companies that need to increase their basic funding. They have considerable problems with asymmetric information or they operate in markets with limited protection for investors.     

中小企业融资难问题研究

改革开放以来中小企业在我国国民经济中的地位和贡献度不断提升,已经成为推动国民经济发展、保持社会稳定的基础力量。然而由于中小企业存在着权属不清晰、评估价值不合理、缺乏信用观念、会计报袁信息披露不够和财务数据失真等问题,造成银行贷前调查的困难和不实等,使融资难问题始终困扰着中小企业。虽然政府和各金融机构针对中小企业融资难采取了一些措施,但现实中,中小企业仍面临大量融资缺口。政府应尽快放开民间资本,建立真正的专门面向中小企业融资的民营银行,大力发展民营小额贷款公司,发展和规范个人放贷业务,发展名副其实的民间互助合作金融组织,为中小企业开辟更多的直接融资渠道等,使中小企业融资难问题得到根本解决。     

Quantity and quality of information and SME financial structure

We test whether the amount and/or quality of financial statement information affects the financial structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Belgian SMEs are used, because there are important differences in disclosure and audit requirements among them. Consistent with the traditional view that asymmetric or incomplete information restricts access to external funds, our results indicate that both the amount and quality of financial statement information are positively related to SME leverage. In addition, we find that leverage is positively related to asset structure, growth (prospects) and median industry leverage, and negatively related to firm age and profitability.     

Factors Influencing Social Responsibility Disclosure by Portuguese Companies

This study compares the Internet (corporate web pages) and annual reports as media of social responsibility disclosure (SRD) and analyses what influences disclosure. It examines SRD on the Internet by Portuguese listed companies in 2004 and compares the Internet and 2003 annual reports as disclosure media. The results are interpreted through the lens of a multi-theoretical framework. According to the framework adopted, companies disclose social responsibility information to present a socially responsible image so that they can legitimise their behaviours to their stakeholder groups and influence the external perception of reputation. Results suggest that a theoretical framework combining legitimacy theory and a resource-based perspective provides an explanatory basis for SRD by Portuguese listed companies.     

Corporate social responsibility and the development agenda

The European Commission has designated 2005 as the year of corporate social responsibility in EU countries. Likewise, individual EU member states have taken important steps, such as the UK appointing a Minister for CSR within the Department for Trade and Industry, France legally requiring companies to include social and environmental impact in their annual reports, the Netherlands linking financial support schemes for large companies to compliance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Danish Government establishing the Copenhagen Centre (a CSR focused research institution). What is this emphasis on CSR all about? The present paper reviews recent trends in CSR theory and practice placing special emphasis on their relevance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and on the context of economic development in developing countries.     

Cash holdings in SMEs: speed of adjustment,growth and financing

This paper studies the effect of growth opportunities, financial constraints and financial distress on the speed of adjustment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to their target cash holdings. We use a sample of Spanish SMEs from the period of 1998 to 2012. The results support the existence of a target cash holding level to which small firms attempt to converge. Additionally, consistent with the precautionary motive for cash holdings, the results show that SMEs with greater growth opportunities adjust more quickly to their target cash holding level to preserve their financial flexibility and to be able to take advantage of profitable investment opportunities when they arise. Moreover, for SMEs in financial difficulties, the adjustment speed of cash is higher to avoid financial distress costs. Finally, we observe a faster speed of adjustment for cash holding in the crisis period for all firms, as a possible response to the credit restrictions faced by SMEs.     

现行财务报告的局限性及其改革

财务报告从诞生到今天,已经有70年的历史。自21世纪,随着科学技术的飞速发展,电子技术突飞猛进,财务报告日益成为连接金融信息提供商,接受者,监管机构和审计师之间的纽带。然而,传统的财务报告逐渐显示出了其局限性,无法满足财务报告使用者的需求。本文从财务报告的发展历程入手,阐述社会经济的发展决定财务报告的发展变化。也就是说,社会经济的发展是财务报告发展的根本动力。接着,文章通过分析现行财务报告存在的缺陷,以及造成的重大事项,论述改进现行财务报告的重要意义。然后,文章详细指出了我国现行财务报告存在的种种局限性：财务报告的内容不够完整,财务报告的信息披露方式不够完善等。据此,文章进一步对现行财务报告在信息的披露内容、披露模式等方面提出了具体的改进建议。     

我国物流业上市公司财务软信息披露之探究

现代物流业因为将传统运输方式和信息技术相结合,可以降低成本,提高效益。在我国,上市公司基本上都是各行各业的"领军人物",面对来势汹汹的国外企业,谁能在现代物流业的竞争中胜出呢?除了企业自身练好生产经营管理内功外,对外的财务信息(尤其是预测性的财务信息)披露也很重要。因为它是企业与外界互通的窗口。本文就我国物流业上市公司财务软信息披露存在的问题与对策加以研究,希望对完善我国物流业上市公司财务软信息披露有所启迪。     

The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in the Social Screening of Investments

Social screening of investments calls not only for investment policy and criteria, but also for information about companies, their policies, practices and performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have the potential to significantly improve the usefulness and quality of information reported by companies about their environmental, social and economic impacts and performance. The GRI aims to develop a voluntary reporting framework that will elevate sustainability reporting practices to a level equivalent to that of financial reporting in rigour, comparability, auditability and general acceptance. This will be a welcome and efficient supplement to the questionnaires, interviews, press releases, media reports and other sources of information traditionally used for screening in investment decision making – social/ethical and mainstream. The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the Innovest EcoValue'21 analytical platform, together with the SRI community, are all likely to benefit from GRI-style sustainability reports. One of the GRI's key challenges is to accommodate the broad variety of disclosure needs and expectations of a wide range of report users and company stakeholders. To maximize the usefulness of the GRI Guidelines, report users, including the SRI community, need to be engaged in the process of developing and refining the Guidelines over time. The GRI Guidelines are emerging as an important instrument in enabling companies to communicate with their stakeholders about performance and accountability beyond just the financial bottom line.     

Give or Take on the Internet: An Examinationof the Disclosure Practices of Insurance Firm Web Innovators

Theories of corporate social responsibility suggest that there ought to be a balance between what business takes from society and what it gives back in return. Recently, the practice literature within the insurance industry has been heavily pushing for the development of the Internet as a tool for commerce while virtually ignoring the role it could play in terms of information disclosure to stakeholders. This study examines whether insurance firms themselves reflect this emphasis, or whether companies that are industry leaders with respect to web innovation for product marketing are also leaders in using the web for information disclosure. A study of the web pages for 40 property and casualty firms drawn from Franzis (2000), shows that financial disclosure for the overall sample is at best moderate. The disclosure of social responsibility information on these web pages is quite low, on average. Further, and importantly from a social balance perspective, the web innovators in terms of product marketing are not industry leaders in terms of information disclosure.     

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and market value: Family versus nonfamily firms

We investigate the moderating role of family involvement in the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and firm market value using a longitudinal archival data set in the French context. Our empirical results show that family firms report less information on their CSR duties than do nonfamily firms. However, market-based financial performance, as measured by Tobin's q, is positively related to CSR disclosure for family firms and negatively related to CSR disclosure for nonfamily firms. Family firms would benefit greatly from communicating commitment to CSR; specifically, they could obtain shareholders' endorsement more easily than nonfamily firms could.     

论上市公司内部控制信息披露的成本效益

完善企业内部控制信息的披露是保护投资者利益的重要途径,但目前我国上市公司披露内部控制信息的自愿性和动力均不足。本文的研究表明,企业内部控制信息披露要承担内部控制制度的完善、处理和传播成本、竞争劣势成本以及宏观调控成本,并可能影响证券市场的吸引力。同时,披露内部控制信息对企业而言也有一定的利益,包括降低融资成本、诉讼成本、委托代理成本和外部审计费用,并提升投资者关系管理,促进社会资源的有效配置。对此,应完善上市公司内部控制信息披露的相关规定,优化股权结构,加强注册会计师对内部控制信息披露的签证服务功能,强化对上市公司内部控制信息披露的监管,纠正投资者对内部控制信息的需求偏差。     

内部控制、财务报告质量与投资者保护——来自沪市上市公司的经验证据

本文以我国2006--2009年自愿披露内部控制自我评估报告的856家沪市上市公司为研究样本,通过检验自愿披露内部控制信息的公司与未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司在当年及在此之前5年财务报告质量的差异,以及自愿性内部控制信息披露对资本市场的影响,考察了内部控制对财务报告质量和投资者保护的影响。我们发现,自愿披露内部控制信息公司的财务报告质量在当年及在此之前5年均显著高于其未自愿披露内部控制信息的公司;从长期来看,投资者能据此对盈余进行区别定价。这表明,自愿性内部控制信息披露具有明显的信号发送作用,内部控制能够在一定程度上改善财务报告的质量,并强化对投资者利益的保护。     

Small Business Champions for Corporate Social Responsibility

While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has traditionally been the domain of the corporate sector, recognition of the growing significance of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) sector has led to an emphasis on their social and environmental impact, illustrated by an increasing number of initiatives aimed at engaging SMEs in the CSR agenda. CSR has been well researched in large companies, but SMEs have received less attention in this area. This paper presents the findings from a U.K. wide study of socially responsible SMEs. The 24 companies studied were chosen as “exemplars” of␣CSR in SMEs. The aim of this study therefore is to progress understanding of both the limitations on and opportunities for CSR in SMEs through the exploration of exemplary characteristics in the study companies. Key areas of investigation were CSR terminology, the influence of managerial values, the nature of SME CSR activities, motivation for and benefits from engaging in CSR, and the challenges faced. The results of this study demonstrate some of the exemplary goals and principles needed to achieve social responsibility in SMEs, and begin to provide knowledge that could be used to engender learning in other SMEs. In particular, there is evidence that stakeholder theory may provide a framework in which SMEs and CSR can be understood. SMEs prefer to learn through networking and from their peers, so this is a possible avenue for greater SME engagement in CSR. This would require strong leadership or “championing” from individuals such as highly motivated owner–managers and from exemplary companies as a whole.Heledd Jenkins is a Research Associate at The ESRC Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society based at Cardiff University. She holds a degree in Geography from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and a Masters degree in Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy from Cardiff University. Heledd's research areas of interest include Corporate Social Responsibility, Small to Medium sized Enterprises, Stakeholders, the mining industry, business ethics, and social entrepreneurship.     

Development of Norms Through Compliance Disclosure

This article introduces compliance disclosure regimes to business ethics research. Compliance disclosure is a relatively recent regulatory technique whereby companies are obliged to disclose the extent to which they comply with codes, ‘best practice standards’ or other extra-legal texts containing norms or prospective norms. Such ‘compliance disclosure’ obligations are often presented as flexible regulatory alternatives to substantive, command-and-control regulation. However, based on a report on experiences of existing compliance disclosure obligations, this article will identify major weaknesses that prevent them from becoming effective mechanisms to discipline a certain type of behaviour. It will be argued that regulatory recourse to compliance disclosure obligations is nonetheless worthwhile if we view them as mechanisms that can initiate a dialogue about norm interpretation, application and norm desirability. From this perspective, compliance disclosure obligations serve less to discipline companies by making corporate practices transparent, and more to trigger a process of norm development, in which the law, companies and their stakeholders interact. This article provides an illustration of how mandatory disclosure, if it is restricted to a unilateral communication process, may produce no effective results (or even prove counterproductive), whilst highlighting the alternative potential of disclosure as an initiator of dialogue, supported by laws, geared towards the development and refinement of norms applicable to business in a global context and the values they promote.     

美国会计信息披露监管的变化及对我国的借鉴

2001年,美国爆发了安然等一系列大公司的财务舞弊案件,促使其重新考虑会计信息披露监管体系方面的问题。围绕美国会计信息披露监管体系的变化,在借鉴该体系变化优越性的基础上,结合我国的具体情况,需要构建我国新型会计信息披露监管模式。     

上市公司环境治理的现状与对策

公司环境治理是公司治理的重要组成部分。目前,上市公司环境治理问题主要表现在环境会计信息披露不完善,缺乏强有力的政府干预、市场约束以及非政府组织和公民的监督。改善上市公司环境治理需要培育良好的环境治理的外部社会制度环境,倡导环境责任投资理念,加强利益相关者与公民的参与,完善上市公司环境责任报告。     

浅析财务报告局限性及改进建议

现行的财务报告体系己滞后于经济发展的要求,不能全面客观地进行价值反映,在一定程度上误导了报表使用者的决策行为.应从这些局限性入手,改变财务报告的报告模式,构造多元化的财务报告体系,实时呈报财务报告;加强预测性信息的披露,增加现行财务报告对社会责任信息的披露;应重视对衍生金融工具所产生的收益和风险信息的披露;增加对人力资源的反映;提高财务报告的质量,加强注册会计师审计监督等,使之适应经济发展的要求.     

资产规模、融资路径与商业信用供给

现有文献就企业规模对企业商业信用供给有不同的研究结论,说明这一方面的研究还有待完善。本文结合数理模型和实证研究,分析不同企业规模下,融资路径不同对企业商业信用供给的影响。研究发现,我国中小企业在发展未达到一定规模之前,受市场竞争劣势影响,需要提供大量商业信用来维持市场生存和发展,而此时由于我国金融系统对中小企业的信贷歧视,获得银行信贷支持比较少,因此需要大量的商业信用融资来支持商业信用提供。随着商业信用融资的增加,融资成本提高,最终导致商业信用提供力度逐步下降。当企业发展超出一定规模后,银行信贷支持逐步增强,企业可以用银行信用替代成本更高的商业信用融资,导致商业信用融资逐步下降,同时也使得企业提供商业信用的能力上升。文章研究结论表明,商业信用提供与企业规模之间的关系不是简单的线性关系,而是一个二次函数关系。