scholarly journals Corporate social responsibility disclosure level, external assurance and cost of equity capital

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Lee Weber

PurposeThis study aims to analyze whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) report characteristics, including disclosure level and external assurance, and reporting firms’ CSR performance, explain variation in cost of equity capital among CSR disclosers.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a propensity score matched sample of CSR reports prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3/G3.1 Reporting Guidelines.FindingsOverall, there does not appear to be a difference in cost of equity capital among CSR disclosers based on GRI disclosure level. The exception is for poor CSR performers reporting at the highest GRI disclosure levels, but not obtaining assurance. These firms may be suspected of greenwash and therefore have higher cost of equity capital than the reference group. Poor CSR performers, especially those reporting at the highest GRI disclosure levels, obtain the greatest cost of equity capital benefit associated with external assurance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by showing that the cost of equity capital benefits associated with CSR disclosure and assurance do not accrue equally to all CSR disclosers. Specifically, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the cost of equity capital consequences of suspected greenwashing and empirically demonstrate the role of external assurance in mitigating greenwashing concerns among poor performers.

2011 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan S. Dhaliwal ◽  
Oliver Zhen Li ◽  
Albert Tsang ◽  
Yong George Yang

ABSTRACT: We examine a potential benefit associated with the initiation of voluntary disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities: a reduction in firms’ cost of equity capital. We find that firms with a high cost of equity capital in the previous year tend to initiate disclosure of CSR activities in the current year and that initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance enjoy a subsequent reduction in the cost of equity capital. Further, initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance attract dedicated institutional investors and analyst coverage. Moreover, these analysts achieve lower absolute forecast errors and dispersion. Finally, we find that firms exploit the benefit of a lower cost of equity capital associated with the initiation of CSR disclosure. Initiating firms are more likely than non-initiating firms to raise equity capital following the initiations; among firms raising equity capital, initiating firms raise a significantly larger amount than do non-initiating firms.


Telaah Bisnis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitta Ariyani ◽  
Yeterina Widi Nugrahanti

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure on Cost of Equity Capital. CSR disclosure index is measured based on Global Reporting Initiative standards, while Cost of Equity Capital is measured by Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). This study uses manufacturing companies which is listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2010. By purposive sampling, this research obtained 72 companies as a samples. The control variables used are financial leverage and firm size. Multiple regression analysis by SPSS 16 was run for testing the hypothesis. The result show that CSR disclosure and financial leverage have no effect to Cost of Equity. Then, firm size have positive effect to Cost of Equity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 201-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiao Liu ◽  
Charl de Villiers

The practice of managers of firms making voluntary social disclosures has become widespread. Corporate ownership (shareholders) will be interested to know whether these voluntary social disclosures affect them by influencing the firm’s cost of equity capital. This study investigates the relationship between the voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure of Australian and UK firms, based on the 2008 KPMG International Survey of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and the cost of equity capital based on the Botosan and Plumlee (2005) model. Using a sample of 59 firms ranked in the top 100 of Australian and UK firms, we find that firms making voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines are associated with an increased cost of equity capital. Our main results are robust to several alternative measures of voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure. These results can be attributed to two reasons. Firstly, firms making voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure provide information that allows certain traders to make judgments about a firm’s performance that are superior to the judgments of other traders. As a result, there may be more information asymmetry amongst traders. Secondly, shareholders consider that the information production and proprietary costs associated with voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure outweighs its potential benefits. Both explanations suggest that investors will impose a higher cost of equity on firms making voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure. In the additional tests, we show that our main results are robust to alternative measures of voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure.


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