Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland

Abstract

In this paper, we fi rst analyzed the responsibility reporting literature with an emphasis on the linkage between responsibility reporting and a fi rm's performance and valuation. Based on the literature review, we developed a research question: How does communication via responsibility reporting affect fi rm value? We analyzed the market valuation of listed Finnish fi rms through a conventional valuation model combined with responsibility reporting. The starting point for our valuation was the Ohlson model. We expanded upon the conventional valuation by studying whether communication via responsibility reporting is related to fi rm valuation. Our research question is linked to the broader academic question of whether earnings worth as an information source has been erased over the last few years. In addition, we contribute to the literature that tries to understand the link between corporate social responsibility and fi rm performance/share performance. Specifi cally, we focused on responsibility reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and especially on whether the existence of these reports provides a further explanation for fi rm value.Our sample was a population type that covered all listed Finnish fi rms that have adopted GRI. No other responsibility reporting practice was used by listed fi rms in their responsibility reporting communication during the years 2002-2005. The other necessary information for valuation models was obtained from Thomson Financial Services (commercial database).The applied model supported the conclusion that communication via GRI responsibility reporting is an important explanatory factor for a fi rm's market value. The result indicates that responsibility reporting is a part of a fi rm's communication tools in order to decrease information asymmetry between managers and investors. In other words, GRI responsibility reporting is called for in order to produce a more precise market valuation of a fi rm.

The study of sustainability report disclosure aspects and their impact on the companies’ performance

“…Based on the Legitimacy theory, the company responded to public pressure by using environmental disclosure [13]. Environment category in GRI G4-2013 covers the impacts associated with the inputs (such as energy and water) and outputs (such as emissions, effluent and waste).…”

The Value Relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: The Brazilian Case

“…However, the potential benefit to a shareholder of the company in which it invests carrying out CSR activities depends on how that information affects the stock market value of the shares [14]. Although most of the existing empirical evidence has obtained results in favour of the value relevance of CSR practices, these studies have focused mainly on the analysis of developed markets in Europe [15][16][17][18] and North America [19][20][21].…”

“…Second, most studies have used as their corporate sustainability indicators the publication of sustainability reports [15][16][17][18][19] or the inclusion of the company in a socially responsible index [13,18,20,21]. These binary variables have a number of disadvantages.…”

Trends and determinants of corporate non-financial disclosure in Greece

“…Nowadays, there is a growing interest from the investor community for such information towards a more precise valuation of the firm (Schadewitz and Niskala, 2010;Berthelot et al, 2012;Sullivan and Gouldson, 2012). In this respect, during 2008e2010, professionally managed funds invested in socially responsible investments (SRIs) grew from $5 trillion to $7.6 trillion (Eurosif, 2010) and, consequently, pressures to obtain a more comprehensive depiction of corporate performance are strong.…”