Non-financial disclosure in Euopean companies: an empirical investigation

The adoption of the Directive 2014/95/EU as regards “disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups” represents a shift in the European mind-set from perceiving Corporate Social Responsibility as concerning companies on a voluntary basis; the European policy is instead becoming much more in line with the perspective of a social contract which benefits all members in society, corporations included. The main underlying principles of the Directive are therefore those of responsible, long-term growth and value creation. This is evident in Recital 3 of the Directive which refers to disclosure of non-financial information as “vital for managing change towards a sustainable global economy by combining long-term profitability with social justice and environmental protection”. Post-financial-crisis Europe does indeed need a strong, renewed trust sentiment towards businesses. The EU vision of CSR has moved in the recent years from perceiving it terms of “the good corporate citizen” to viewing non-financial reporting as an important socio-economic benefit. This has a led to a necessary regulatory shift towards creating a “sustainable Europe”. This fits into a wider discourse of post-financial crisis regarding companies and stakeholders shifting their horizon from the short-term to the long-term. Before the financial crisis of 2008 indeed, the economic focus of most companies was based on the short-term. Only after a profound economic shock as the crisis was, European firms started to think in a more long-term-oriented perspective. Non-financial reporting should not be seen as an issue that companies have to deal with but rather as a “win-win” possibility. Furthermore, the non-prescriptive nature of the Directive does not provide actual standards to respect but rather gives room to companies to apply the described principles. Not only is the non-prescriptive nature to be underlined but also it is worth pointing out the reflexive character of the law: it indeed encourages the actors to whom it is addressed to be proactive in shaping their behaviour. In 2011, the European Union Commission launched the idea that the EU should help to improve the undertakings’ disclosure of social and environmental information. In 2013, a new directive was proposed and it was finally amended in 2014 with Directive 95 and the introduction of rules on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information.