Despite the fact that obligations to publish reports on corporate social responsibility will come into force in the European Union from 2018, an increasing number of companies are starting to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy into their everyday business practices, and as a result the information of this activity is disclosed in CSR reports or within annual reports. As the disclosure of such information is currently voluntarily based, we believe that the growing popularity of CSR leads to a direct link between the sustainability of the company and its nancial performance. The purpose of this paper is therefore to determine the linkage between CSR and nancial performance within two countries in the CEE region -Czech and Estonia -using data from 2012 -2013. We compare return on assets and normalized market value added of listed companies. Based on the results, we can state that the implementation of a standalone CSR report does not have any direct linkage with the nancial performance of the tested companies.
Nowadays more and more companies all over the world have been providing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related information. As a result many companies today implement CSR strategies and disclose respective information either via standalone CSR reporting or through their websites. In Estonia today there are no governmental requirements related to the disclosure of nonfinancial information, but companies quoted at the Tallinn Stock Exchange have already started to prepare standalone CSR reports and include non-financial information into their annual reports. Most companies provide CSR related information on their websites making it visible and easily accessible for the users. This article presents the survey of CSR reporting by the Top10 Estonian companies (ranked by profit growth) conducted by studying annual reports and websites of the selected companies for the year 2012. The criteria for the choice, and presentation of information were tailored to the template developed by Ashridge Business School. The research results revealed that there is a growing trend of CSR reporting among the leading Estonian business companies, however companies are not willing to prepare standalone CSR reports and prefer to disclose CSR related information via either website and/or via annual report, which may be related to such factors as time, human resources and practical knowledge and skills. The type of the article: Research report.
The growing importance of sustainable development and influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the performance of companies have forced companies to care more than ever about the environmental impact of their activities. Wide range of environmental legislations has been enforced by the European Union during recent years in order to ensure sustainable development of European cities. As a result, various initia tives have taken place to boost companies' interest to take control over the environmental performance. An environmental management area has developed strongly in recent decades and various systems and tools have been introduced to effectively manage sustainable environmental development of companies. More and more organizations both in Estonia and worldwide are initiating the ISO14001 certification process, which specifies requirements for environmental management systems, in order to develop and implement envi ronmental policy and objectives. The main purpose of the present research was to identify the main factors of initiating the ISO certification process by Estonian companies and to get their opinion regarding the future of the ISO 14001 certification in Estonia. To achieve the aim of the research, the authors have set the following research tasks: to provide a wide overview of the scientific literature covering the main relevant studies in the selected research area; to research the implementation of standards in European Union and Estonia; to con duct a survey in the form of questionnaire among ISO 14001 certified enterprises; to reveal respondent's opin ion about the current situation and future development of ISO 14001 certification in Estonia. The main methods applied in this article include analytical method and quantitative research method. Authors conducted a survey among ISO 14001 certified Estonian companies in September-October 2015 and collected 115 replies. The findings of the present research clearly demonstrate that Estonian companies are actively involved into the environmental management process; therefore, they initiated the ISO 14001 certification procedure and are willing to renew the certificate upon expiration. They also confirm that Estonian stakeholders are aware of the environmental management initiatives and their opinions are valued by companies and inspire them to show better performance in the field of environmental sustainability. The companies are also caring about their reputation and compliance with environmental laws and legislation, and believe that ISO 14001 certification will assist in this matter. However, it should be pointed out that surveyed companies do not identify a direct link between the ISO 14001 certification and reductions of certain costs and expenses. Therefore, there should be more workshops and training organized in order to explain how the sustainability helps to boost the effective ness of the company by reducing various expenses and increasing profits.
Abstract. The main aim of this paper is to empirically examine the influence of the selected financial indicators on the prices of refined oil products at European cargo market using the VAR regression model. In order to test the influence of well-known market indicators -EUR/USD exchange rates, EURIBOR interest rates and Euro Stoxx 50 index on oil products' prices, the weekly data was
Abstract-At the end of the accounting period all statutory audited business entities have to prepare and submit to the business register the annual report -the on-time submission of the financial statements is of a high importance for all stakeholders to be able to make proper economical decisions. This paper represents the examination of how the implementation of the e-submissions of financial statements has influenced the on-time submission by the selected companies. In order to determine whether e-system influenced positively the on-time submission of annual reports authors have selected the annual reports submitted to the Czech and Estonian Business Register by the most successful TOP100 Czech and Estonian companies for the period 2007-2011. The results revealed that the number of the on time submitted annual reports has increased significantly after the implementation of the new Estonian e-reporting system, however Czech companies still are not very willing to submit their financial statements on time.
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