CSR Reporting Practices in Visegrad Group Countries and the Quality of Disclosure

Companies around the world more often issue publicly available reports to disclose how responsibly they conduct their business. The practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting are more popular in western part of Europe then in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and empirical studies related to these practices in the region are sporadic and fragmented. The Visegrad Group countries have undergone tremendous changes in political, environmental and social area during the last twenty years. The CSR concept in these countries is relatively new but is rapidly spreading, in particular as part of their integration with the European Union, as well as under the influence of transnational corporations (TNCs) and foreign investors. Therefore, acquisition of knowledge, which presents the functioning of CSR reporting practices in the region seems to be of interest to both the scientific community and enterprises themselves. An important part of the analysis conducted in the study was the assessment of quality of CSR reports issued in this region. The quality indicator of the studied reports was based on seventeen criteria related to relevance and credibility of disclosed information. The findings indicate that CSR reporting practices are not widespread among V4 countries and suggest some area of improvements. Furthermore, the achieved results confirm the existence of a relationship between two factors (external verification of a report and usage of the GRI guidelines when developing a report) and the level of quality of the CSR report.