企業社會責任績效與年報可讀性關聯性之研究

Corporate Social Responsibility Performance and Readability of Annual Reports

本研究旨在探討企業社會責任績效是否與公司年報可讀性有所關聯。實證結果顯示：企業社會責任表現較高的公司所提供的年報可讀性較低，特別是在「合併財務報表附註」(Notes)部分，而非「管理層討論與分析」(MD&A)部分。此外，本研究進一步發現企業社會責任表現與年報可讀性的關係主要透過財務績效及財務槓桿此兩項渠道，這支持了股東理論(Friedman 1962)和稅盾考量的觀點。同時，本研究亦發現，不同的從事企業社會責任活動之動機會導致這些渠道有所差異。最後，在次貸危機期間，企業社會責任表現與Notes部分可讀性之負向關係將顯著減弱。

We examine whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance affects annual report readability. We find that firms with higher CSR performance provide less readable annual reports, especially in the‘Notes to consolidated financial statements’(Notes) section rather than the‘Management Discussion and Analysis’(MD&A) section. The CSR performance effect on annual report readability is mainly through the channels of firm performance and financial leverage, supporting shareholder theory (Friedman 1962) and tax shield concern. Meanwhile, we also find that the channels vary with the different motivations for conducting CSR activities. Finally, the CSR performance effect on Notes readability becomes weaker during the financial crisis period.