Share:


Non-financial reporting of chemical companies in the Czech Republic

    Simona Munzarova   Affiliation
    ; Jana Kostalova   Affiliation
    ; Eliska Fialova Affiliation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the issue of non-financial corporate reporting by the Czech chemical companies. Based on the content analysis of the websites and disclosures, it analyses, compares and evaluates the level of web communication of the economic, environmental and social issues of corporate social responsibility of these companies. At first, it presents results of the research comparing the extent of non-financial web communication of selected Czech chemical companies with the Czech leaders in the Czech TOP 100 rankings. These results are then complemented by results of the quantitative research on environmental instruments used by all Czech chemical production companies, that use websites for communication of their activities. The number of companies in the Czech Republic processing non-financial reports is significantly lower than abroad, but it is still growing. Large enterprises pay more attention to non-financial reporting. Rather than including this information in a disclosure, a business website is used as a tool for this communication. The paper brings sectoral perspective into non-financial reporting literature, as attention is paid to the chemical production sector and also complements the knowledge of communication of companies that do not belong to the group of 100 most important companies within the country.

Keyword : reporting, non-financial reporting, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, non-financial reporting standards, chemical industry, Czech Republic

How to Cite
Munzarova, S., Kostalova, J., & Fialova, E. (2022). Non-financial reporting of chemical companies in the Czech Republic. Business: Theory and Practice, 23(1), 88–98. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2022.11972
Published in Issue
Mar 7, 2022
Abstract Views
792
PDF Downloads
538
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Aarikka-Stenroos, L., & Makkonen, H. S. (2014). Industrial buyers’ use references, word-of mouth and reputation in complex buying situation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 29(4), 344–352. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-08-2013-0164

AccountAbility. (2018). AA1000 AccountAbility Principles. https://www.accountability.org/standards/aa1000-accountability-principles/

Arvidsson, S. (2011). Disclosure of non‐financial information in the annual report: A management‐team perspective. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 12(2), 277−300. https://doi.org/10.1108/14691931111123421

Barnett, M. L., Jermier, J. M., & Lafferty, B. A. (2006). Corporate reputation: The definitional landscape. Corporate Reputation Review, 9(1), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550012

Bortree, D. S. (2014). The State of CSR communication research: A summary and future direction. Public Relations Journal, 8(3), 1–8. https://prjournal.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014BORTREE.pdf

Bucaro, A. C., Jackson, K. E., & Lill, J. B. (2020). The influence of corporate social responsibility measures on investors’ judgments when integrated in a financial report versus presented in a separate report. Contemporary Accounting Research, 37(2), 665–695. https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12542

Cefic. (2020). Cefic views on the Commission Delegated Regulation on Taxonomy-related disclosures by undertakings reporting non-financial information. https://cefic.org/app/uploads/2020/09/Cefic-response-to-the-Inception-Impact-Assessment-on-Taxonomy-related-disclosures.pdf

Chersan, I. C., Ignat, G., Ungureanu, G., Sandu, I., Costuleanu, L., Simeanu, C., & Vintu, C. R. (2018). Assurance of the sustainability reports from the chemical industry. Revista de Chimie, 69(3), 636−641. https://doi.org/10.37358/RC.18.3.6165

Cormier, D., & Magnan, M. (2003). Environmental reporting management: A continental European perspective. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 22(1), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4254(02)00085-6

Cornejo, C. P., de Quevedo-Puente, E., & Delgado-García, J. B. (2020). Reporting as a booster of the corporate social performance effect on corporate reputation. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environment Management, 27(3), 1252–1263. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1881

Cosofret, B. D. (2020). The integrated reporting and its adoption perspectives in the European Union. In Basiq International Conference: New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption (pp. 388–394). Messina, Italy.

Csigene-Nagypal, N. (2013). Corporate social responsibility of Hungarian SMEs with good environmental practices. Journal for East European Management Studies, 19(3), 327–347. https://doi.org/10.5771/0949-6181-2014-3-327

Deegan, C. (2014). Financial accounting theory. McGraw-Hill Education.

De Villiers, C., & Maroun, W. (Ed.) (2018). Sustainability accounting and integrated reporting (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315108032-1

European Parliament, & Council of the European Union. (2014). Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain undertakings and groups. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/95/oj

Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. New Society Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.3310080106

European Commission. (2001). Green Pare: Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

European Commission. (2011). Communication from the commission to the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions A renewed EU strategy 2011−14 for Corporate Social Responsibility. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0681&from=CS

European Commission. (2019a). Commission Staff Working document − Corporate social responsibility, responsible business conduct, and business and Human Rights: Overview of progress. https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/34482

European Commission. (2019b). Sustainable development. http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/policy-making/sustainable-development/

Fernandez-Feijoo, B., Romero, S., & Ruiz, S. (2014). Commitment to corporate social responsibility measured through global reporting initiative reporting: Factors affecting the behavior of companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 81, 244–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.06.034

Gallardo-Vazquez, D., & Lizcano-Alvarez, J. L. (2020). CSR-related competitiveness and legitimacy in MSMEs. Economics and Sociology, 13(1), 52−73. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-789X.2020/13-1/4

Global Reporting Initiative. (2015). Empowering Sustainable Decisions Our five-year focus 2015–2020. https://csrjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GRI-Five-year-focus-2015.pdf

Global Reporting Initiative. (2016). GRI: 2016. https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/?g=e10f8b5a-6775-40da-afbf-4b3cdc1df635

Graafland, J., Van Den Ven, B., & Stoffele, N. (2003). Strategies and instruments for organising CSR by small and large businesses in the Netherlands. Journal of Business Ethics, 47(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026240912016

Halme, M., & Korpela, M. (2013). Responsible innovation toward sustainable development in Small and Medium-Sized enterprises: A resource perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23(8), 547–566. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1801

Hofbruckerova, Z., Halfarova, P., & Divinova, T. (2016). Analysis of activity of metallurgical companies in the field of corporate social responsibility. In 25th International Conference on Metallurgy and Materials (pp. 1808–1812). Ostrava, Tanger. https://www.confer.cz/metal/2016/read/2056-analysis-of-activity-of-metallurgical-companies-in-the-field-of-corporate-social-responsibility.pdf

International Integrated Reporting Council. (2013). The International Framework. https://integratedreporting.org/the-iirc-2/

Islam, M. A. (2015). Social compliance accounting: Managing legitimacy in global supply chains. Springer.

International Organization for Standartization. (2015a). Quality Management Systems – Requirements (ISO 9001:2015(en)). https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:9001:ed-5:v1:en

International Organization for Standartization. (2015b). Environmental Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for use (ISO 14001:2015(en)). https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:14001:ed-3:v1:en

International Organization for Standartization. (2010). Guidance on Social Responsibility (ISO 26000:2010(en)). https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:26000:ed-1:v1:en

Jelinkova, M., Lostakova, H., & Pakostova, E. (2018). Tools for creating positive reputation with customers for chemical industrial enterprises. In 10th International Scientific Conference Business and Management 2018 (pp. 427–435). Vilnius. https://doi.org/10.3846/bm.2018.47

Jelinkova, M., Munzarova, S., Lostakova, H. (2016). Internet CSR presentation and its importance for increasing corporate reputation in the area of ferrous metallurgy. In 25th International Conference on Metallurgy and Materials (pp. 1829–1837). Ostrava, Tanger. https://www.confer.cz/metal/2016/read/2012-internet-csr-presentation-and-its-importance-for-increasing-corporate-reputation-in-the-area-of-ferrous-metallurgy.pdf

KPMG. (2015). The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2015, No 132962. Haymarket Network Ltd.

KPMG. (2017). The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2017, No 134802. https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2017/10/kpmg-survey-of-corporate-responsibility-reporting-2017.pdf

Kulkarni, A. R. (2014). A review of concept and reporting of non-financial initiatives of business organisations. Procedia Economics and Finance, 11, 33–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00173-7

Landrum, N., & Ohsowski, B. (2017). Identifying worldviews on corporate sustainabality: A content analysis of corporate sustainability reports. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(1), 128–151. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1989

Lubis, A. (2018). Corporate social responsibility in health sector: A case study in the government hospitals in Medan, Indonesia. Business: Theory and Practice, 19, 25–36. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2018.04

Matuszak, Ł., & Różańska, E. (2021). Towards 2014/95/EU directive compliance: The case of Poland. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-02-2020-0042

McClimon, T. J. (2019). Five Corporate Social Responsibility Trends to watch in 2019. American Express. https://www.conference-board.org/blog/corporate-citizenship/CSR-Trends-2019

McPherson, S. (2019). Corporate responsibility: What to expect in 2019. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanmcpherson/2019/01/14/corporate-responsibility-what-to-expect-in-2019/

Montesinos, V., & Brusca, I. (2019). Non-financial reporting in the public sector: Alternatives, trends and opportunities. Revista de Contabilidad – Spanish Accounting Review, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.6018/rcsar.383071

Myskova, R., & Hajek, P. (2019). Relationship between corporate social responsibility in corporate annual reports and financial performance of the US companies. Journal of International Studies, 12(1), 269–282. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-8330.2019/12-1/18

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2011). OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264115415-en

Querci, E. (2018). Sustainability performance of SMEs: The approach to non-financial reporting. In 6th International Academic Conference on Strategica – Challenging the Status Quo in Management and Economics (pp. 1008−1017). Romania, Bucharest.

Robinson, S., & Eilert, M. (2018). The role of message specificity in corporate social responsibility communication. Journal of Busines Research, 90, 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.028

Rupley, H., Brown, D., & Marschall, S. (2017). Evolution of corporate reporting: From stand-alone corporate social responsibility reporting to integrated reporting. Research in Accounting Regulation, 29(2), 172–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.racreg.2017.09.010

Social Accountability International. (2014). Social Accountability 8000 International standard (SA8000:2014). https://sa-intl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SA8000Standard2014.pdf

Sorour, M. K., Shrives, P. J., El-Sakhawy, A. A., & Soobaroyen, T. (2021). Exploring the evolving motives underlying corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in developing countries: The case of “political CSR” reporting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 34(5), 1051–1079. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2019-4080

Stefanescu, C. A., Tiron-Tudor, A., & Moise, E. A. (2021). EU non-financial reporting research – insights gaps, patterns and future agenda. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 22(1), 257–276. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.13479

Stolowy, H., & Paugam, L. (2018). The expansion of non-financial reporting: An exploratory study. Accounting and Business Research, 48(5), 525–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.2018.1470141

Sustainability Accounting Standard Board. (2021). SASB Standards connect business and investors on the financial impacts of sustainability. https://www.sasb.org/about/

Szabo, D. G. (2016). Mandatory corporate social responsibility reporting in the EU (1st ed.). Boomuitgevers.

Tetrevova, L., Vavra, J., Bednarikova, M., Munzarova, M., & Kostalova, J. (2017). Corporate social responsibility in socially sensitive sectors. Grada Publishing.

Tetrevova, L. (2018). Communication CSR in high profile industries: Case study of Czech chemical industry. Inžinerinė Ekonomika – Engineering Economics, 29(4), 478–487. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.4.19199

United Nations Global Compact. (2014). Guide to Corporate Sustainability. https://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/publications/UN_Global_Compact_Guide_to_Corporate_Sustainability.pdf

Vazquez-Carrasco, R., & Lopez-Perez, M. E. (2013). Small & medium-sized enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility: A systematic review of the literature. Qual Quant, 47, 3205–3218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-012-9713-4

Venturelli, A., Caputo, F., Leopizzi, R., & Pizzi, S. (2019). The state of art of corporate social disclosure before the introduction of non-financial reporting directive: A cross country analysis. Social Responsibility Journal, 15(4), 409–423. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-12-2017-0275

Wensen, K. van, Broer, W., Klein, J., & Knopf, J. (2011). The state of play in sustainability reporting in the EU. Research Study. https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-State-of-Play-in-Sustainability-Reporting-in-the-European-Union.pdf