Sustainability Information in Annual Reports of Companies Domiciled in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic

Abstract

The importance of corporate sustainability reporting continues to grow. This growth is rooted in numerous contingent factors and scientific questions regarding the key contingent variables arise. Knowledge related to these issues is important both for academic and practical purposes. Although sustainability reporting and sustainability management are not identical activities, they are strongly interconnected and communication, per se, is of great importance for the sustainability of companies. In the Czech Republic, and especially in the Slovak Republic, there is a lack of up-to-date empirical research into the extent of sustainability reporting and our article addresses this research gap.

The primary concern is the investigation of the association between the amount and structure of disclosure and its determinants. Scientific methods of content analysis, ratio analysis, and statistical data analysis including regression analysis are applied.

Few companies report on environmental and social issues in a comprehensive way. The structure and amount of reporting is similar in the countries analyzed. Company size positively impacts the relative share of both environmental and social disclosure in the total disclosure. Company affiliation to a high-profile industry positively impacts the relative share of environmental disclosure in the total disclosure, as well as the total amount of environmental disclosure. Total amount of disclosure positively impacts the absolute amount of economic, environmental and social disclosure. Reporting, in accordance with the IFRS, positively impacts the relative share of social disclosure in the total disclosure.