CSR reporting

“Corporations dominate all aspects of our lives. Unaccountable corporate power is damaging the fabric of society, the structure of families, the quality of life and even the very future of the planet. Significantly, most companies are still not reporting relevant Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) information. Some studies have found that most CSR reporting is of descriptive, self-congratulatory nature, alluding more to good intentions than actual CSR programs and rarely reporting any bad news about companies’ relationship with the environment”.

Corporations have significant impacts on society, people’s life and environment. According to the accountability model, the corporation should be responsible for these impacts and correspond to the responsibility by making appropriate disclosure. However, the statement believes that in fact most corporations do not honestly report important information. I agree with the statement, because the objective of most companies is to generate profit. The company could only report the information that help to increase profit if the disclosure is under company’s discretion. The interest underlying in the information will ultimately decides what actions company will take. This article will first explain why entities decide to disclose social and environmental information. Then several characteristics of company that are strongly associated with disclosure will be introduced. Methods used to improve the quality of report will also be discussed. Finally, whether disclosure really helps in limit company’s impact will be examined. The article will include several journals and their results to help understanding and support the argument.
There are several theories explain the reason for entity’s decision to make CSR reporting. These theories can be divided into 2 categories. Legitimacy theory and social contract, stakeholder theory and institutional theory focus on the external influences on the entity. Accountability model and