Variations in CSR Reporting Among Australian Companies

This essay examines the variations in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) voluntary disclosures among Australian listed companies, addressing the gap between expected benefits and actual explanations received by shareholders. It highlights the crucial role of CSR in the 21st century, emphasizing the mandate for businesses to improve society economically and environmentally. The essay identifies factors influencing CSR disclosures, including profit disclosure, shareholder equity structure (dispersed vs. concentrated), company visibility, and environmental impact. Companies with higher profits and greater public visibility are more likely to disclose CSR activities to meet community expectations and avoid potential costs. The analysis references academic journal articles to support its claims, providing a comprehensive overview of CSR reporting practices in the Australian context.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURES
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Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Disclosures
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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The main aim of writing this paper is to focus on reporting Corporate Social
Responsibility issues that the business has and that which are of major concern to the
shareholders of the company. The effort has been put to try and explain Corporate Social
Responsibility in relation to companies listed in the Australian stocks exchange but of which to
the many expected beneficiaries of this disclosure this has been in vain since they have never
gotten material explanation on issues relating to corporate social responsibility (Crowther, 2008.
p.36.)
The society has become crucial and integral part of the business in this 21st century
especially on factors corporate social responsibility because they are directly affected either
negative wise or positive wise especially socially, economically and finally environmental wise.
This is because business entities have been mandated to try and improve the society both
economically and environment wise (Tai, 2014. p.17.) The need to follow up on this is so as to
ensure that they give back to the people who are bringing business to them and therefore their
main aim of existence in the market niche.
As much as this happens it’s to be done on the approval of the shareholders of the
company upon considering the government impact on it. Over the years the main aim of many
business entities has been profit maximization but this has changed due to the mandate of CSR.
This has led to some of the companies reporting funds that have set aside for CSR or money
spent on CSR. This activity is called voluntary Corporate Social responsibility.
One of the major factors that bring about differences in Corporate Social Responsibility
disclosures is the business entities profits disclosure. Companies Reporting high profits
compared to others have a much higher obligation to disclose their CSR activities as compared to
companies with small profits. This disclosure comes about due to the company’s exposure, with

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURES 3
the main reason being to try and avoid the breach of the community’s expectations. Companies
with greater profit base than others have a much higher obligation to the society than those doing
losses or low profits.
The other main reason for differences in Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures are
how the shareholders' equity distribution is structured (Schwartz, 2017. p.5.) One of the ways it
is done is through dispersed shareholders structure, where the shareholders have given
management the liberty to run the company on their behalf. In this structure, the management is
obligated to report in their books about Corporate Social Responsibility activities carried out in
that financial year thus disclosing any CSR items that are material for disclosure.
The shareholders on the hand can go to an extent of employing agents who will
(delegation of duties) on their behalf to confirm whether the disclosures reflect a true position of
Corporate Social Responsibility result against the company’s capability of offering CSR services
in lieu of its financial status and budget in totality (Ho,2013. p.29.) The extent of public
accountability in this set up is much higher thus the need for the disclosures. The structure is
where we have few shareholders e.g. (Family Business). In this structure, the company is not
obligated to disclosure on their Corporate Social Responsibility.
Another major factor affecting Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures is the business
entity company’s visibility. Some of the companies are more visible compared to others. While
referring to visibility I mean some of the companies feature more or are has seen to appear and
positively advertised on the media platforms as compared to other companies (Cuganesan, 2010.
p.180.) This visibility attracts interest from the shareholders' political influencers and the society
at large, thus bringing out public accountability of the business entity. This makes them more

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURES 4
responsible obliged and mandated to give material and fair disclosures on Corporate Social
Responsibility than less ‘famous’ business entities since they are famous in the market hence its
output is likewise presumed to be proportional with its fame.
The other main reason for Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure is on influence by
environmental factors hence business entities with very high environmental impact attract the
attention of environmental activists, who try and influence politicians to place cost or fines to
companies with poor environmental practices. This leads to firms in this sector to disclose their
Corporate Social Responsibility activities to the general public to reduce any impending cost that
may be imposed on them (Sandhu,2010. p.47.) For example, a company that’s in the business of
chemicals is more likely to disclose their Corporate Social Responsibility activities as compared
to other markets such as a service offering business entity.

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References;
Crowther, D. (2008). Corporate social responsibility. Bookboon.
Cuganesan, S., Guthrie, J., & Ward, L. (2010, September). Examining CSR disclosure strategies
within the Australian food and beverage industry. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 34, No.
3-4, pp. 169-183). Elsevier.
Ho, P. L., & Taylor, G. (2013). Corporate governance and different types of voluntary
disclosure: Evidence from Malaysian listed firms. Pacific Accounting Review, 25(1), 4-29.
Sandhu, H. S., & Kapoor, S. (2010). Corporate social responsibility initiatives: An analysis of
voluntary corporate disclosure. South Asian Journal of Management, 17(2), 47.
Schwartz, M. S. (2017). Corporate social responsibility. Routledge.
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.