the_effect of cg in csr in bangladesh

Seediscussions,stats,andauthorprofilesforthispublicationat:http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228119317

TheEffectofCorporateGovernanceElementsonCorporateSocialResponsibility(CSR)Reporting:EmpiricalEvidencefromPrivateCommercialBanksofBangladeshARTICLEinINTERNATIONALJOURNALOFLAWANDMANAGEMENTAUGUST2011DOI:10.1108/17542431011029406

CITATIONS16

DOWNLOADS234

VIEWS356

1AUTHOR:

HabibZamanKhanCurtinUniversity17PUBLICATIONS61CITATIONS

SEEPROFILE

Availablefrom:HabibZamanKhanRetrievedon:13September2015

IJLMA52,2

82

International Journal of Law andManagementVol. 52 No. 2, 2010pp. 82-109# Emerald Group Publishing Limited1754-243XDOI 10.1108/17542431011029406

The effect of corporategovernance elements on

corporate social responsibility(CSR) reporting

Empirical evidence from private commercialbanks of Bangladesh

Md. Habib-Uz-Zaman KhanFaculty of Business and Economics, Department of Business Administration,

East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR)reporting information of Bangladeshi listed commercial banks and explores the potential effects ofcorporate governance (CG) elements on CSR disclosures.Design/methodology/approach The annual reports of all private commercial banks (PCB) forthe year 2007-2008 are examined to analyse the banks CSR reporting practice using content analysis.It also considers three elements of CG such as non-executive directors, existence of foreignnationalities and women representation in the board. The multiple regressions were used to measurethe impact of CG elements on banks CSR reporting initiatives.Findings The results of the study demonstrate that though voluntary, overall CSR reporting byBangladeshi PCB are rather moderate, however, the varieties of CSR items are really impressive. Theresults also displayed no significant relationship between the women representation in the board andCSR reporting. Conversely, non-executive directors and existence of foreign nationalities have beenfound the significant impact on the CSR reporting.Research limitations/implications The main limitations of the paper are that it considers PCBfrom only one country and uses annual reports disclosures from a single year. The results of thestudy can be used by researchers to analyse the benefits of including the non-executive directors andforeign nationals on different types of CSR initiatives and standard setters to set the suitable CSRpolicy guidelines with a view to reinforce such initiatives.Originality/value This unique paper divulges the CSR related disclosure with possible impact ofCG in the specific context of a transitional economys banks such as Bangladesh. The papercontributes to the CSR literature as it presents empirical evidence of the influences of CG structure onthe practices of CSR activities in developing countries banking sector setting.

Keywords Financial reporting, Corporate governance, Commercial banks, Bangladesh,Corporate social responsibility, Disclosure

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionTo undertake social responsibilities and to report such activities at a regular intervalhave been recognised an essential device for organizations towards ensuring the long-term continued existence. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has beenreceiving a considerable attention to researchers and practitioners for more than twodecades (for a detailed review on the development of CSR reporting, see Mathews,1997). Price Water House Coopers international survey in early 2002 found that nearly70 per cent of the global chief executives believed that addressing CSR was vital totheir companies profitability (Simms, 2002). A review of related literature suggests

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available atwww.emeraldinsight.com/1754-243X.htm

Effect of CGelements on

CSR reporting

83

that CSR reporting issues have become a necessary facet of businesses to substantiatecompanies commitment to the society. A number of earlier researches analysing CSRinformation have directed towards many fundamental issues. For example, researchendeavours attempted on investigating the types of information, extent of socialdisclosures firms report (see Andrew et al., 1989; Guthrie and Parker, 1990; Harte andOwen, 1991; Adams et al., 1995; Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Newson and Deegan, 2002for a review) establishing any connection between companies CSR initiatives andattributes of economic performance or factors such as size, industry membership, risk,market reaction, external influences, firm reputation, country of origin or proximity toindividual consumers (e.g. Roberts, 1992; Herremans et al., 1993; Tilt, 1994; Newsonand Deegan, 2002) have been increasing across time. Moreover, other research efforts(e.g. Guthrie and Parker, 1989; Patten, 1992; Roberts, 1992; Donaldson and Preston,1995; Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Deegan and Rankin, 1997; Adams et al., 1998; Neuet al., 1998; Deegan, 2000) evidenced the motivations of corporate managers to CSRactivities. Nevertheless, most of the earlier international researches were dealt withcompany-specific attributes and proxies. Few studies considered attributes ofcorporate governance (CG) that might tend to positive CSR activities. InternationalCSR research is further being limited in that the majority of studies focus on non-financial sector in developed nations. Very few studies (e.g. Barako and Alistair, 2008)focused on banking sector of developing countries and no such study was carried outin the specific context of commercial banks in Bangladesh.

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, to investigate CSR reportinginformation of private commercial banks (PCB) of Bangladesh with a view to observethe levels and varieties of CSR information on annual reports. Second, to examine thevariability of CSR reporting information for CG elements. The country Bangladesh andthe PCB are interesting and ideal to study for a number of motivational reasons. First,because not many research studies on CSR reporting issues in banking institutions(Hossain et al., 1994; Khalid, 2005; Leung and Horwitz, 2004) are evidenced in bothdeveloped and developing countries setting due to the existence of strict regulatoryrequirements, this study will fill up research dearthness by addressing the CSRreporting practice in the specific context of a developing countrys banking sector.Second, investigating CSR reporting practices in annual reports of Bangladeshibanking sector over a given time period and making out governance construction aspotential explanatory factors tends to create an understandable contribution to theliterature. The findings of the study might be inclined to construct few inferences forother developing countries where the respective standard setters take particularattention in designing CSR-led business strategies for banks. Third, empirical researchstudies investigating environmental information within CSR reporting domain havegained little attention to the financial institutions viewing that this sector has aninsignificant straight environmental shock. However, many research studies (see e.g.Simpson and Kohers, 2002; Jeucken and Bouma, 1999; Coulson and Monks, 1999)addressed both internal and external issues for evaluating likely environmental impactfor banks. By concentrating on banking industry, this study takes the opportunities tosee banks extended focus on social and environmental responsibility and reportingpractices. Fourthly, Khan et al. (2009) in a recent research revealed that PCB inBangladesh initiated a number of excellent programs on CSR issues. Finally, civilsocieties in Bangladesh motivate CSR issues for all sectors in the recent years byspawning greater societal demands and expectations of business responsibility in the

IJLMA52,2

84

form of organising different seminars, press release or with other initiatives (Rahamanand Jabed, 2003).

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The next section documentsthe CG and CSR reporting environment in banking sector of Bangladesh followed bya short review of the literature on organisational legitimacy theory (LT) to validate CSRactivities and reporting practice for the firms. A short review of CSR reporting with CGhas afterward addressed. The paper then out lines the development of hypotheses.Next, the details of the research method used in the study are discussed. In the finalsection, it reviews the finding of the study together with the implications, limitationsand the further scope of study.

CSR reporting and CG in Bangladesh: an overviewWhile CSR reporting has traditionally been observed as the developed countries event(Belal, 2000), in recent years it has also been received significant interest in both CSRand CG writing in developing countries context. In Bangladesh, five enterprisesnamely the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bangladesh Bank (BB), theInstitute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), the Bangladesh EnterpriseInstitute (BEI), the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh(ICMAB) are the pioneer bodies working for ensuring CG regulations (Ahmed, 2006). Arange of activities in relation to governance are executed by these institutionsincluding publication of code of CG for Bangladesh, different reports, organization ofseminars, issuance of notification, enforce various regulations and standards, such asthe Bangladesh Accounting Standards (BAS) and Bangladesh Auditing Standards(BSA), the Companies Act 1994, the SEC rules and others stock exchange listingrequirements (Mir and Rahaman, 2005). Earlier, accounting reports were mainlydrafted and audited along the lines of regulations set out in two sets of regulations: theCompanies Act 1913 and the stock exchange listing requirements which was laterbeing changed in 1993. Being advised and funded by the donor agencies, the SEC wasestablished as an autonomous body in order to strengthen the capital market.Subsequently, the Companies Act 1913 was replaced by a new Act in 1994. The listedcompanies must comply with the listing requirements of SEC to operate in the stockexchanges in addition to the requirements of the Companies Act 1994. Imam (2006)mentioned that the SEC has promulgated different orders and notifications time to timeto ensure good CG practice in the listed public limited companies. SEC strives tostimulate the listed companies to comply the CG guidelines so that suppliers of fundscan ensure a fair return on their investment. Researchers (e.g. Amin and Tareq, 2006;Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Chaudhury, 2004) illustrated that banking companies entailunique CG attention because they differ greatly from other types of firms in terms of abroader extent of claimants on the banks assets and funds. Numerous studies (e.g.Ahmed, 2006; Shliefer and Vishny, 1997; Imam, 2006) explained that the generalapproach to CG argues in support of the shareholders rights only. This is becausemanagers or executives may not always work in the best interest of the shareholders.However, from banks perspectives, the shareholders actually provide a veryinsignificant part of the banks assets and funds. Rather, majority of its investments arefinanced by the depositors funds. As a result, the risks of losing depositors savingsdemand stern priority in protection of depositors. This necessitates the broader view ofCG that advocates the interest and benefits of the suppliers of funds for a firm mustbe maintained in a consistent manner. Similarly, researchers (Afroze and Jahan,2005; Bhuiyan and Biswas, 2007; Arun and Turner, 2003) supported the need for the


CSR reporting

85

broader approach to CG and the inevitability of government intervention forbanking institutions of Bangladesh to bring the behaviour of bank management undercontrol.

In Bangladesh economy, banking institutions play the fundamental role anddominant financier for the industrial and commercial activities. Since independence in1971 until 1982, when the ownership reform measures started in the financial sector,the government had carried out the regulation and ownership of all financialinstitutions. During the reform period, two out of six National Commercials Banks(NCBs) were denationalised and PCB were allowed to operate in the country. In 2006,out of the 49 banks operating in Bangladesh, ten belong to the public sector, 30 are localPCB and ten are foreign-owned banks (Bangladesh Bank, 2007). As with the line ofglobal practice, the central bank of Bangladesh, BB, has been entrusted with theresponsibility of playing custodian role of banking sectors in Bangladesh. BB regulatesbanking companies in accordance with Banking Companies Act, 1991, and its furtheramendments. At the same time, banking organisations listed in the capital marketabide by the rules of the SEC for trading the stock exchanges and thus to operate, theyfulfill the listing requirements in addition to the requirements of the BankingCompanies Act, 1991. For companies, adoption of the SECs guidelines is voluntary forfew items in addition to other mandatory disclosure requirements. Corporate financialreporting in Bangladesh is mandatory[1] and focused on the traditional accountingbased profit margin or percentage based result to the fund provider rather thancompanys contribution to the society, to the people and to the country as a whole.Uddin et al. (1999) narrated that reporting corporate social responsibilities areemphasised in the developed and developing countries but reporting of CSR activitiesare not found enormous. The major problem concerns selecting events to be reported.Chowdhury and Chowdhury (1996) noted that although many international standardswere available to help firms implementing CSR, there are no disclosure requirementsfor social reporting under the different Acts and rules in Bangladesh. On the otherhand, reporting CSR information by Bangladeshi banking sectors is documented at alesser extent although there are no mandatory legislative requirements. A studyconducted by Khan et al. (2009) on selected banking companies revealed some notableinitiatives taken by different banking firms in Bangladesh such as establishment offoundation for CSR practices although overall reporting practices are ratherinsufficient. However, this may be due to lack of structured reporting guidelines.Recently, BB encourages commercial banks to take part CSR activities enthusiastically,which might pave the banking sectors way to become more structured on the ideas ofCSR issues. BB also advised banking and other financial institutions to move towardsimplementation of CSR programme. Reporting of the CSR initiatives can begin in amodest way as supplements to usual annual financial reports, eventually to developinto full blown comprehensive reports in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) format(The Financial Express, 2008, p. 4). The report also described that CSR activity of firmswould be perceived as an additional indicator of management efficiency. Moreover, theGovernment of Bangladesh has approved the long-awaited proposal for tax exemptionfacility for firms at the rate of 10 per cent on a part of the corporate income to be spentfor CSR activities. In this regard, news published in daily news paper (The Daily Star,2008, p. 6) stated that the exemption facility is aimed at encouraging private companiesto be involved more in CSR practices. In relation to the tax exemption plan, economic,environmental and social development activities have been brought within CSRpurview.

IJLMA52,2

86

Theatrical framework: LT and banks CSR activitiesLT has been considered as widely accepted theory to clarify social reporting practicesof a firm (Milne and Patten, 2002; Adams et al., 1998; Deegan and Gordon, 1996;Guthrie and Parker, 1989; Moerman and Van Der Laan, 2005; ODonovan, 2002;ODwyer, 2002; Patten, 1992; Wilmhurst and Frost, 2000; Murthy and Abeysekera,2008). LT accentuates that corporate management will react to communityexpectations and human resource management (Deegan, et al., 2002; Patten, 1992;Campbell, 2000; Deegan et al., 2002). Although the banking and other financialinstitutions do not construct detrimental products nor do they exercise processesunsafe to the society, seeking organisational legitimacy is deemed imperative indemonstrating social worthiness (Oliver, 1991) social conscience and enlightened self-interest (ODwyer, 2002) above all, exhibiting that organisations are in harmony withcommunity concerns (Clarke and Gibson, 1999). As a result, Bangladeshi people mightexpect the banking sectors to report information on their constructive social activitiessuch as managing the domestic social problems that are rampant in the country. Inview of that, banking sectors management may legitimise their existence by reportingon banks positive actions to restrain poverty, eradicate illiteracy and unemployment,contribution to educational sector and to the community as a whole. Lindblom (1993)described that organisational legitimacy is a concept that can be used to gain insightinto the motivation a firm has for providing CSR information voluntarily. Guthrie andParker (1989) narrated that legitimacy is one of the factors that motivate themanagement to adopt and report social practices. Grounded in LT, Branco andRodrigues (2008) mentioned a positive association between public visibility andCSR reporting information. As a matter of fact, LT is in particular helpful as arationalization of any type of disclosure when there are good reasons for assuming thatthe type of disclosure being analyzed is attempting to address a particular legitimacygap and that the disclosure program is intended to close that gap. For example,companies change their CSR reporting practices after particular incidents such as anenvironmental disaster (an oil spill or gas explosion) that puts the companies in thespotlight (see, for example, Patten, 1992; Deegan et al., 2000; Walden and Schwartz,1997). On the other hand, a variety of research (e.g. Deegan et al., 2000; Deegan, 2002;Barako and Alistair, 2008) addressed that legitimacy can be vulnerable even whencompanies activities are in agreement with societys expectations. This may be for thereason that the company has failed to correspond that its activities are in congruentwith social values. Buhr (1998) opined that companies can attempt to achievelegitimacy by appearing to do the right things or not be involved in doing the wrongthings when this appearance may have little in common with a companys actualperformance. According to Branco and Rodrigues (2008), LT suggested CSR reportingas an important way of communicating with stakeholders. They added that LTconvinces stakeholders that the company fulfills their expectations (even when actualcorporate behaviour remains at variance with some of these expectations).

In banking context, depositors and borrowers are the major stakeholders ofbanks which represent extremely large and diverse stakeholder groups. As a result,in addition to shareholders and managers, depositors and regulators have a straightstake in bank performance. These stakeholders enjoy all three of Mitchell et al. (1997)stakeholder attributes: power, legitimacy and urgency (Yamak and Suer, 2005;Griffiths, 2007). Griffiths (2007) argues that borrowers have a legitimate claim on banksby entering in lending agreements, acquire power and urgency through their causebeing adopted by other stakeholders such as regulators and consumer organisations.


CSR reporting

87

These considerations guide researcher to sense that banking is both a high-streetpresence and a high public visibility sector. The escalating customer consciousness allover the world and in some other developing nations together with Bangladesh havebeen seen as a powerful driver of corporate performance, which tends to promotedifferent sectors positively towards the countrys corporate social activities (Patten,1992; Sharma and Talwar, 2005; Belal and Owen, 2007; Khan et al., 2009). There hasbeen an increasing trend of CSR activities by banks in both developed and developingcountries. This may be basically due to the sectors vital role in economic developmentand sustainability or perhaps the realising the legitimacy. A CSR research by Douglaset al. (2004) on Irish banks stated that Irish banks are well behind the leading Europeanbanks with regard to the quality and quantity of social disclosures. Tsang (1998) in hisCSR reporting study on banking, food & beverage and hotel industries in Singaporerevealed the few CSR disclosures. Halabi et al. (2006) analysed CSR information inannual reports of top Australian banks. They found that four banking companies arein Australias top ten implement GRI and all banks make disclosures in relation to theenvironment, labour practices and human rights. In his study on the banking sector inGreece, Nikolaou (2007) suggested that this sort of information is disclosed through anad hoc environmental accounting method. The recent study conducted by Branco andRodrigues (2008) on the banks in Kenya revealed that Kenyans banks involve CSRactivities although the level of CSR reporting was low. Another recent study by Brancoand Rodrigues (2008) on Portuguese banks found that community relations disclosureis an important part of the social reporting disclosures items. For the purposes of thecurrent study, the essential aspect is that legitimacy calls for a reputation that must bemaintained by the banks, which necessitates a bank to think and convey to theappropriate users groups that their actions are harmonious with their values.Demonstration of positive social image towards the general public by involvingactivities leading to social welfare is more on the point of gaining higher publicacceptance by the banks. Given that CSR reporting is attempted to underline how thecompany relates to society in the course of its different social activities, it should bemaintained in an accelerating manner which might carry an opening to generate moreincentives (financial as well as non-financial) for such involvement. Research studiesdocumented that companies with high public profiles are more eager to present apositive social image through community involvement activities than those of less wellknown to justify that such activities are taken for greater public interest and to validatetheir continuation to society. From the perspective of CG, Macey and OHara (2001)argue that a broader view of CG should be adopted for banking institutions. Theyopined that CG mechanisms for banks should encapsulate depositors as well as shareholders due to the existence of peculiar contractual form of banking. Therefore banksare believed to put superior significance to community involvement and CSR reportingas part of their CSR practices.

CSR disclosure and CGNowadays consciousness for CG has not only been increased but the concept hasgreatly been widened. For example, it has started to envelop some areas customarilyperceived as being part of CSR. Following after accounting and ethical scandals infirms such as Enron, WorldCom, Ahold and Parmalat, firms tended to attemptsstrengthening CG mechanisms regarding boards and its compositions, managers andauditors, control and risk, as well as the ethical aspects related to remuneration,managerial and employee behaviour including whistleblower and complaint

IJLMA52,2

88

provisions for the organisations. In view of the fact that bank and other financialinstitutions generally experience higher stresses to be transparent and discloseinformation about major strategic decisions to stakeholders it has demanded increasedrequirements for other types of information above and beyond economic information.In a preface to a report by the Global Corporate Governance Forum, Claessens statesthat in its broadest sense, CG is concerned with holding the balance between economicand social goals and between individual and communal goals (Claessens, 2003, p. 7).Maier (2005) suggested a broader definition of CG scope Corporate governance definesa set of relationships between a companys management, its board, its shareholdersand its stakeholders. It is the process by which directors and auditors managetheir responsibilities towards shareholders and wider company stakeholders. Forshareholders it can provide increased confidence of an equitable return on theirinvestment. For company stakeholders it can provide an assurance that the companymanages its impact on society and the environment in a responsible manner ( p. 5).While the message mentioned by Maier is very coherent, one could expect such anapproach from representatives of the fair investment community. Given thatstakeholder interests are accounted for, it has been suggested that firms are to be bearin mind their degree of dependence on a stakeholder for resources (McLaren, 2004). Theliterature revealed that CG has a considerable impact on CSR issues within theorganizations such as employee conditions (Deakin and Whittaker, 2007) and ethicalaspects related to remuneration, managerial and employee behaviour (Ryan, 2005;Wieland, 2005). Research studies (Dahya et al., 1996; Carter et al., 2003; Branco andRodrigues, 2008) also documented the likely impact of CG elements on firms CSRdisclosure initiatives the detailed of which are addressed in the next section.

Review of literature and hypotheses developmentCG is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals andbetween individual and communal goals. The governance framework thereforeencourages the equal and efficient use of resources to require accountability for thestewardship of those resources with an aim of aligning as nearly as possible theinterests of individuals, corporations and society. Dahya et al. (1996) defined CGs asthe manner in which companies are controlled and in which those responsible for thedirection of companies are accountable to the stakeholders of these companies ( p. 74).In the wake of accounting, leadership and governance scandals at large companies, CGhas succeeded to attract a great deal of interest. This is because it focuses not only thelong term relationship, which has to deal with checks and balances, incentives formanagers and communications between management and investors but also thetransactional relationship, which involves dealing with disclosure and authority.Tricker (1984) illustrated that the CSR reporting endeavour can be viewed as a strategyheading towards closing a perceived legitimacy gap between management andshareholders (especially foreign shareholders) via non-executive directors. Non-executive directors are seen as the check and balance mechanism, not only in ensuringthat companies act in the best interests of owners, but also other stakeholders; advisingon the public presentation of the companys activities and performance; and providingadditional windows on the world. Furthermore, Zahra and Stanton (1988) pointed outthat they are likely to respond to concerns about honour and obligations and wouldgenerally be more interested in satisfying the social responsibilities of the firm becausethis might improve their social prestige and honour. Fama and Jensen (1983) explained


CSR reporting

89

that non-executive directors are regarded as a dependable method equipped ofdisseminating agency conflicts between managers and owners.

In view of the ideas derived from the above-mentioned discussion, the standing atthis point is that non-executive directors have an essential role to play on bankingcompanies to take on CSR activities with a view to ensure similarity betweenorganisational actions and societal values or firms legitimacy. Therefore, boardsrepresented by non-executive directors are believed to have more pressure on CSRreporting as they are thought of symbolising the benefits of other stakeholders. Thusthe first hypothesis of this study is:

H1. The provision of higher proportion of non-executive directors on the board,the greater is degree of CSR reporting information for banks.

It has been evidenced in the CG literature that board diversity has turned into asignificant element of CG arrangement in recent years. Branco and Rodrigues (2008)mentioned the theme of board diversity correctly match into the structure ofstakeholder theory. Prior research indicated that board diversity is associated withstronger orientation towards corporate social reporting and higher intensity of socialperformance (for review, see Ibrahim and Angelidis, 1994; Sicilian, 1996). Carter et al.(2003) argue supporting board diversity that [it] increases board independence for thereason that with a unlike gender, ethnicity, or cultural background might ask questionsthat would not appear from directors with more traditional backgrounds ( p. 37).Carter et al. (2003) revealed empirical evidence of a significant positive relationshipbetween board diversity, defined as percentage of women, African American, Asiansand Hispanics on board of directors and firm value. Huse and Solberg (2006) illustratedthat women could involve to boards through forming alliance, preparing and involvingthemselves in board matters, taking part of vital decision making. Adams and Ferreira(2004, p. 3) suggest that boards with a higher proportion of women directors tend tomake the more board meetings possible and special attendance patterns at boardmeetings, which make different boards more successful than homogenous boards.They also argued that women are inherently more stabilising than men. Therefore,based on the above-mentioned discussion, the second hypothesis of this study is:

H2. The provision of higher proportion of women directors on the board, thegreater is degree of CSR reporting information for banks.

The ownership structure of the firm may lead to legitimacy gaps. Branco andRodrigues (2008) explained the involvement between the proportions of foreignnationals and reporting might lead to raise the issue of causality. Fields and Keys(2003) found that heterogeneity of experiences, ideas and innovations that individualscarry to a company tends to impact on company performance. Erhardt et al. (2003)argue that ethnic representation on boards raises financial performance of business. Atthe same time, Ayuso and Argandona (2007) illustrated that foreign directors aretypically assumed to play a key role in supporting CSR reporting strategies. Haniffaand Cooke (2005) revealed empirical evidence of positive association betweenproportion of Malay directors on the board and the extent of voluntary disclosure byMalaysian companies. However, a study by Branco and Rodrigues (2008) on Kenyanbanks found no association between the ratio of foreign directors on the board and CSRreporting initiatives, the result consistent with study. In Bangladeshi banking sector,board diversity has become an important component of CG structure in the recentyears as foreign representation on boards has now been practised (Haque et al., 2007).

IJLMA52,2

90

Thus based on the above discussed literature, this paper assumes that that boarddiversity measured as percentage of foreign national, (non-Bangladeshi nationalities),on the board of directors may have power on banks CSR reporting. Hence, thefollowing hypothesis is examined:

H3. The provision of higher proportion of foreign nationals on the board, thegreater is degree of CSR reporting information for banks.

Control variables (firm-specific characteristics i.e. size, profitabilityand gearing)The study considers size, profitability and gearing as the control variables. Previousstudies have indicated a positive relationship between the extent of CSR reporting andcompany size, profitability and gearing. One rationalisation for the relationship of largefirms with CSR reporting is that large firms assume more activities and have greaterimpact on society (Trotman and Bradley, 1981; Andrew et al., 1989). Besides, variousgroups in society scrutinise larger companies therefore they would be under greaterpressure to report their social activities to legitimise their business (Cowen et al., 1987).The relationship between profitability and CSR reporting is also conclusive (seeMangos and Lewis, 1995; Patten, 1991; Roberts, 1992). A likely clarification for thisassociation is that management enjoys more autonomy and flexibility to initiate andreport wide-ranging CSR initiatives to shareholders. Haniffa and Cooke (2005) opinedthat profitable firms reveal social information to show their role to societys well beingwith an aim of validating their existence. Moreover, Gearing has been found to be animportant explanatory variable in the earlier studies (e.g. Belkaoui and Kahl 1978;Malone et al., 1993; Wallace et al., 1994). Highly geared companies disclose moreinformation to give surety to the creditors that shareholders and management are lesslikely to evade their covenant claims (Myers, 1977; Schipper, 1981) and to meet some ofthe needs of lenders (Cooke, 1996). Thus, based on above-mentioned discussion, thehypotheses are:

H4. The extent of CSR reporting is greater for: larger firms; highly profitablefirms; and firms having highly gearing ratio.

Research designThe data collected for the purpose of the study involves the examination of annualreports for the year 2007-2008 of PCB listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Thebanking companies considered in the research include all PCB[2]. The listed bankswere studied owing to their investor orientation and legislative obligations. The annualreports of selected banks were examined after downloaded from the respective banksofficial web sites. The official web addresses of all firms were collected from thecompanies profile section maintained by DSE. However, incomplete annual reports ofseven banks were available (only financial information) at the web. A letter was thensent to head office addressing to the company secretary requesting for a completeannual reports. Two weeks after sending the mail, a reply was received from the banksconcerned. As a result, annual reports of the entire population of 30 PCBs wereexamined in the study. While firms may exercise other medium of communication forexhibiting CSR reporting such as internet, newspaper, media, this study concentrateson published annual reports. The selection of annual reports is consistent with otherprior studies (see, for example, Adams et al., 1995, 1998; Gray et al., 1995a, b; Guthrieand Parker, 1990; Roberts, 1990; Singh and Ahuja, 1983). A further reason for choosing


CSR reporting

91

annual reports is that annual report is the most widespread and accepted documentproduced regularly by the companies in Bangladesh. Belal (1999, 2000) and Khan et al.(2009) illustrated that annual reports are considered as the major means through whichinformation about the company is communicated. Furthermore, researchers earlyexamination in this regards exposed that sample banks did not publicise any separatesocial reports and their CSR is restricted to the annual reports only. The intention fordeciding on all the PCB was made on the argument that these banks are expected toreveal more social disclosures than others. Moreover, these banks represent around60 per cent of the total assets base and deposit of entire the banking sectors inBangladesh. As a result, the sample population considered for the study has asignificant illustration of firms representing the banking sectors listed on the DSE.

Measurement of variablesDependent variable CSR reportingFor the purpose of collecting and codifying the data, content analysis technique, amethod of codifying the text (or content) of a piece of writing into various groups (orcategories) based on chosen criteria (Weber, 1988) was used. Content analysis is anestablished method of studying annual reports and has widely been used which isseemed to be empirically valid in the corporate social, ethical and environmentalreporting fields of accounting research (see Gray et al., 1995a, b, 2002; Guthrie andParker, 1990; Holsti, 1969 for a review). An important element of content analysis is thecollection and development of categories into which content units can be classified (Aliet al., 2008). The categories and items were taken out from earlier research in the area(e.g. Ernst and Ernst, 1976; Cowen et al., 1987; Guthrie and Parker, 1989, 1990; Grayet al., 1995a, b) and applicability to the Bangladeshi business environment (Ali et al.,2008; Khan et al., 2009). For the study, a research instrument encompassing the sevenbroad premises of CSR reporting (e.g. contribution to health sector, contribution toeducation sector, activities for natural disaster, other donations, and activities foremployees, environmental issues, and product, services, statements) was developed.Effort was also made to ensure that the checklist guaranteed each of the items wasunambiguous and mutually exclusive of others. The checklist was then validated in apilot-study, which was deemed valuable. This is because pilot survey resulted inimprovements of checklist and ensured that items were unique or important to thecontext of Bangladesh banking sector were added and those not relevant omitted.Moreover, it ensured that items peculiar to a particular industry were taken intoaccount. The final checklist instrument consisted of 60 CSR reporting items. Thisstudy considers frequency and words count as the unit of communication due to its(Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Deegan and Rankin, 1996; Deegan and Gordon, 1996) morepracticability and categorisation ease. Although prior research studies employeddifferent unit of analysis such as number of pages (Patten, 1992; Deegan and Rankin,1996) or proportion of pages (Guthrie and Parker, 1990; Gray et al., 1995a, b) in usingcontent analysis, word counts are seems to be quite relevant in Bangladesh contexts,since CSR and its reporting endeavours are the new phenomenon. The frequency wasdecided by the number of times a particular CSR reporting item was narrated eitherqualitatively or quantitatively. The frequency provides the intensity (quantity) of agiven CSR reporting item while the words count indicates the space allocated for agiven CSR reporting item (volume). In order to ensure reliability in coding, theresearcher and a research assistant were involved in the coding process.

IJLMA52,2

92

CSR reporting index (CSRRI)Basically, an item in the research instrument was coded 1 if disclosed and 0 if it isnot although no retribution is applied if the item is considered irrelevant. In otherwords, the study captured that if a company discloses an item of CSR reporting (e.g.donation for flood victims information) in the annual reports, it awarded 1 andotherwise 0. The score of each items were then added to get the ultimate score for thecompany. The disclosure model for the CSR reporting thus measures the totaldisclosure (TD) score for a company as additive as follows:

CSRRI d 60i =njwhere, di is the 1, if the item di is disclosed and 0 if the item di is not disclosed, nj is themaximum number of items for jth firms nj 60.

To get a companys score, the scores for each item is added and the total is divided bythe maximum likely scores, that are multiplied by 100 to gather the percentage scores. Inthis study, 60 items represent the maximum possible disclosure score as the numbers ofdisclosure items combing all broad themes form a total of 60. Thus, for example, if abank reports no item (0) out of 60 items, the dependent variable score will be 0 per cent.Likewise, if half of the total items are reported, then the score for dependent variablepatronise 50 per cent. The average score is calculated by dividing the number of banksdisclosing a particular item by the total number of items. The number of words in everysentence relating to each CSR item included in the checklist is tallied in the study usingsimilar mechanism. However, items relating to graphical presentation in the checklistwere ignored in this respect. The number of words related to each item under the seventhemes was added together to compute the CSR reporting (length).

Independent variablesThe construction of independent variables with control variables and theirmeasurement technique are elaborated in Table I.

Results and discussionThis study considers 60 CSR reporting items; the detailed results of those items areshown in Table II. The results indicate that although CSR reporting is voluntary inBangladesh, the PCBs involvement in CSR activities are not as low as anticipated inrelation to the total list of items and the magnitude of CSR activities performed bybanks are truly stimulating. While the encouragements to take on CSR activities to thebanking sector are the new events in Bangladesh, the finding of the study reveals that

Table I.Constructs of theindependent variables

Independent variables Measurement

Composition of non-executive Percentage of non-executive directors to totalDirectors (COMPNED) Directors on the boardComposition of women Percentage of women directors to totalDirectors (COMPWD) Directors on the boardOwnership by foreignShareholders (FOROWN)

Percentage of non-Bangladeshi directors to totalDirectors on the board

Size (STA) Size based on total assets fixed asset current assetsProfitability (ROE) Return on equity net profit after tax/total equityGearing (DTE) Debt to equity ratio total long-term debt/total equity


CSR reporting

93

Table II.Extent of CSR reporting

Sl no.

Number ofbanks reported

this itemPercentage

(%)Frequency

(f)

A: Contribution to Health sector1 Medical support for AIDS patients 2 6.67 42 HIV/AIDS assistance programme 5 16.67 153 Health assistance to underprivileged and

disable children 25 83.33 454 Support to acid and dowry victims 10 33.33 195 Donation to Smile Brighter Program (cleft-lips

and/or palate surgery for boys and girls) 1 3.33 26 Organising plastic surgery operation 4 13.34 77 Donation of costly medical equipments in

different medical hospitals 10 33.33 108 Donation of cash money for setting up cancer

hospital 10 33.33 309 Donation of cash money for operation theater

for kidney hospital 7 23.33 2510 Donation to rotary club to purchase equipment

to help the disadvantaged children withhearing impairment 5 16.67 7

11 Donation of cash money to women and childhospitals to bear their operational cost 5 16.67 14

12 Donation to different eyes hospital 12 40.00 3013 Financial support for performing

opthtamological operation of all bornblind children 1 3.33 3

14 B: Contribution to education sector15 Donation to the universities for constructing

research center 1 3.33 216 Scholarships to the research students of

different universities 5 16.67 1517 Scholarship to meritorious and poor students 7 23.33 2318 Granted fund for blind education and

rehabilitation 3 10 1019 Scholarships for physical disable students 5 16.67 1720 Donation of books to different colleges and

universities 10 33.33 2821 Organising different local and international

students competitions 7 23.33 2422 Donation for the students whose are suffered

from different death catching diseases 7 23.33 2023 Internship facility for universities students

with cash allowance 10 33.33 2024 Part time job facilities for the students 0 0 0

C: Activities for natural disaster25 Donation for the flood and tornado affected

people 30 100 15026 Donation for the landslides victims people 5 16.67 1227 Donation for rehabilitations of homeless

people due to river erosions 3 10.00 828 Distribution of worm cloths among the

cold-affected people 27 90.00 88(continued)

IJLMA52,2

94

Table II.

Sl no.


this itemPercentage

(%)Frequency

( f )

29 Donation to Prime Minister relief fund forflood victims people 27 90.00 105

D: Other donations30 Establishment of health care center for rural

people for free medical services 3 10.00 2331 Donation to the families victim of road

accidents 1 3.33 532 Donation to hospitals for purchasing

equipments for reducing sufferings of poorThalassemia patients 5 16.67 14

33 Donation for improvement of Streetchildrens condition 1 3.33 2

34 Financial support to the natural affectedvictims of neighbouring countries 1 3.33 1

35 Sponsoring to different national andinternational games and events 10 33.33 24

36 Donation to different sports organisations 10 33.33 2737 Assistance to different Trusts who works

for destitute people of the society 7 23.33 20

E: Activities for employees38 Vaccinations programme of employees 5 16.67 1739 Employees trainings cost 25 83.33 8840 Number of employees 30 100 4041 Career development 24 80 4042 Employee benefits 30 100 4543 Compensation plan for employees 15 50 3044 Facilities to employees children 5 16.67 1445 Number of employees trained 25 83.33 7046 Amount of budget allocation on employees

training 15 50.00 3047 Employees categories by function 3 10.00 748 Cost of employees safety measures 5 16.67 1649 Information about support for day-care,

maternity and paternity leave 0 0 0

F: Environmental issues50 Awards for environmental Protection 2 6.67 751 Planting of trees to make the country green 3 10.00 952 Support for public/private actions designed

to protect the environment (e.g. CNG stationestablishment) 3 10.00 7

53 Past and current operating costs ofenvironmental friendly equipment and facilities

0 0 0

54 Promoting environmental awareness to thecommunity through promotional tools 2 6.67 4

G: Product/services/statements55 Explanation of major kinds of product/services 27 90.00 12556 Improvement of product/service quality 27 90.00 115

(continued)


CSR reporting

95

at least few firms carry on the CSR activities at a greater extent contributing in thedifferent sectors. All the firms (100 per cent) reported CSR information on such items asemployee benefits, number of employees employed, donation for the flood and tornadoaffected people and reporting value added statement. In view of that, it turns intoperceptible that PCBs of Bangladesh stand beside the flood affected people inaccordance with their financial ability (to view other forms of banks assistancetowards the flood victims, see Sl no. 28 and 29) for fulfilling their commitment to thesociety. Likewise, one bank has (Sl no. 34) reported to provide financial support to thenatural affected victims of neighbouring country (tsunami affected people in Srilanka).This is, indeed a very exciting reported event and the continuance of such sort ofendeavour would clearly bring image both at the local and international level for thebank and for the country taken together. Although few CSR items (see Table III) are notreported by any banks, the banks CSR involvement towards different sector such aseducation, health and others are very inspiring. As it is seen from the Table II, 25 banks(83.33 per cent) took part in health assistance to underprivileged and disabled children,more than one-third banks make the contribution to the eye hospitals and ten bankswere (33.33 per cent) involved to donate the costly medical equipments in differentmedical hospitals and contributed cash money for setting up cancer hospitals. Towardsthe banks contribution to the education sector, the findings of the study reveal that,surveyed banks (23.33 per cent) gave scholarships to the meritorious students, tenbanks (33.33 per cent) gifted books to different colleges and universities libraries andsame number of banks reported to offer internship facilities for universities studentswith cash allowance. Banks propensity towards creating a first-rated researchenvironment in the country and the new researcher is also visible. Five banks (16.67 percent) reported that they gave scholarships to the research students and one bank (3.33per cent) disclosed their contribution to a university for setting up research centre.Although this phenomenon seems rather isolated in compare to total surveyed banks,the in-depth investigation in this regards discloses that reported bank contributed the

Table II.

Sl no.


this itemPercentage

(%)Frequency

( f )

57 Improvement of customer service 24 80.0058 Receipt of awards (local or international) for

CSR activities 5 16.67 2059 Value added statement 30 100 11060 Providing information for conducting safety

research on the companys products 0 0 0

Total 34.06

Table III.CSR reporting itemsnot disclosed by any

sample banks

Past and current expenditure for pollution control equipment and facilities.Information about support for day-care, maternity and paternity leaveProviding information for conducting safety research on the companys productsDiscussion of accidental statistics

IJLMA52,2

96

massive amount of funds. However, one interesting item that deserves particularattention that, not a single bank offers part time job facilities for the students (SL #24).This may be owing to the corporate culture or banks rigid thought intended for hiringmore qualified personnel. The finding is parallel to the study conducted by Rashid(2005) who revealed corporate cultures of Bangladeshi organisations bring lessopening for the colleges or universities students to make a good bridge of theirtheoretical and practical learning due to the restricted access while studying in tertiarylevels. Consistent with the earlier research investigations in Bangladesh context (e.g.Imam, 2000; Belal, 2001; Khan et al., 2009; Ali et al., 2008), this study has unveiled againthe extended reporting tendency of Bangladeshi firms in relation to human resourcesitems (see Sl nos 38-49). Nevertheless, it seems that banks commitment towards theenvironment issues are fairly unsatisfactory (see Sl nos 50-54). This is the areas whereBangladeshi banks need to prioritise substantially as part of their future CSR initiative.Moreover, almost all banks place more emphasis (Sl nos 55-59) on reporting productrelated information, banks approach for improving the products and customerservices and in particular, reporting additional financial statement such as value addedstatement. Overall reporting score of 34.06 per cent evidences that banks CSRreporting in the annual report are not as low as expected.

Category wise reporting volume and ranking of banks based on the total CSRreporting itemsTable IV shows the results of the descriptive analysis of CSR reporting in each broadcategory of reporting items to measure the banks more keenness of reporting items. Italso shows the extent of disclosure as measured by the word count to total words forall disclosures in the sample population and the means and standard deviations ofdisclosure based on the number of words disclosed under each category. The overallranking of surveyed PCBs is depicted in Table V. The banks were ranked on the basisof CSR reporting scores for each of the companies, which enables to present insightsabout which banks report more social and environmental information in the annual

Table IV.CSR reporting basedon each category ofCSRR index

Categories (a)

Reportingbanks (at leasttwo items) (b) % (c)

No of wordsreported

(amount) (d)

Percentage ofreported words(As a % of all

disclosedwords) (e)

Mean[(d)/30](f)

Std. dev.(g)

Health sector 15 50 1,050 5.53 35.00 45.5Education sector 10 33.33 763 4.00 25.86 62.67Contributions fornatural disaster 25 83.33 5,406 27.71 180.2 76.5Other donations 13.33 475 2.43 15.83 32.67Environmental issues 4 13.33 305 1.60 10.16 34.00Activities foremployees 26 86.66 5,536 28.38 184.53 86.00Product/services/statements 30 100 5,970 31.60 199.00 84.89

Total 19,505 100

Note: Total surveyed banks 30


CSR reporting

97

reports than others. Consistent with the earlier findings, Table IV shows that surveyedbanks reported fewer words in relation to environmental and educational issues thanemployees related product and service and statement information. A total of 19,030words of CSR reporting were provided in the annual reports for the 30 surveyedbanks examined, representing an average of 634 words per annual report. Table IV,documents all banks relative position in terms of CSR reporting items. In this respect,Dutch Bangla Bank (DBL) Ltd has been received top position by disclosing 56 items(93.33 per cent) out of 60 items. The in-depth investigation of this banks CSR activityshowed that as a responsible corporate body, this bank has been playing a pioneeringrole in implementing various social and philanthropic programs to help disadvantagedpeople of the country since its inception level. Carrying out diverse social andphilanthropic activities in such areas as education, healthcare, human resourcesdevelopment, conservation of nature, creation of social awareness, rehabilitation ofdistressed people and other programs to redress human sufferings not only enlightenbanks image to the society but also brings many local and international awards (DBLhas won Asian CSR Award-2005 and 2006 and many national awards for theiroutstanding program on CSR). Indeed, those awards distinguish banks excellentloyalty to the education and health sector, greater attentiveness and interests toenvironmental issues and other social activities. However, with regards to ranking, this

Table V.Ranking of the banksbased on the reporting

of CSR items

Sl Name of the banking organizations Number of item disclosed % Ranking

1 Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd 56 93.33 12 Pubali Bank Ltd 16 26.67 183 Uttara Bank Ltd 18 30.00 164 National Bank Ltd 18 30.00 165 The City Bank Ltd 24 40.00 156 United Commercial Bank Ltd 30 50.00 107 Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd 29 48.33 118 IFIC Bank Ltd 29 48.33 119 Islamic Bank Bangladesh Ltd 35 58.33 5

10 Oriental Bank Ltd 15 25.00 1911 Eastern Bank Ltd 34 56.67 612 NCC Bank Ltd 28 46.67 1213 Prime Bank Ltd 28 46.67 1214 South East Bank Ltd 42 70.00 215 Dhaka Bank Ltd 40 67.67 316 Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd 16 26.67 1817 Social Investment Bank Ltd 33 55.00 718 Jamuna Bank Ltd 28 46.67 1219 Mercantile Bank Ltd 17 28.83 1720 Standard Bank Ltd 27 45.00 1321 Brac Bank Ltd 30 50.00 1022 EXIM Bank 28 46.67 1223 Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd 24 40.00 1524 Mutual Trust Bank Ltd 32 53.33 825 First Security Bank Ltd 28 46.67 1226 The Premier Bank Ltd 30 50.00 1027 Bank Asia Ltd 36 60.00 428 The Trust Bank Ltd 31 51.66 929 Shah Jalal Bank Ltd 29 48.33 1130 One Bank Ltd 25 41.67 14

IJLMA52,2

98

is followed by South East Bank Ltd, Dhaka Bank Ltd, Bank Asia Ltd, Islami bankBangladesh Ltd and so on. Oriental Bank Ltd, Pubali Bank Ltd, Mercantile Bank Ltdobtained the lowest rank due to the least CSR reporting items. Table III documentsitems which are not reported by any surveyed banks. One essential thing that emergesfollowing researchers careful assessment is that not any bank prepared CSR reports ormentioned anything whether they might have the plan to report under the GRIguidelines in future even if few banks employ more than ten pages for such reporting.Consequently, no matter what CSR projects, the level and varieties of reporting isaddressed for substantiating organisational caring to society, consistent with otherdeveloping countries practices the bottom line is still financial reporting in bankingsectors of Bangladesh. That is to say, financial reports that top management andinvestors be desperate to look at. Whilst CSR practices is not entirely new for the banksof Bangladesh (which is also evidenced in earlier research in the context ofBangladesh), less improvement has been seen to report CSR into a level equal to globalpractice. Because no structured pattern of highlighting banks CSR programme wereobserved in the content of reporting, management future thought and theircommitment to address increased social demands were unreflected in current annualreports. Given that stakeholders impose greater concern (in particular, regulatoryagency and civil society) it is now perceived as high time that top management ofbanks can head out implementing more structured social reporting following globalreporting guidelines in line with developed countries practices. Management opinionsand increased plan in such areas, however, have to be constructive and forward-looking that can be explored in future research study.

Multivariate analysis resultIn this study, regression analysis was used to test the relationship between thevarious independent variables and the measures of overall CSR reporting. However,the underlying assumptions in the regression model were tested for multicollinearitybased on the correlation matrix as well as the variance inflation factor (VIF).

CSRRI 0 1COMPNED 2COMPWD 3FOROWN 4STA 5ROE 6DTE et

where CSRRI is the corporate social responsibility reporting index, COMPNED isthe percentage of independent directors to total Directors on the board, COMPWD isthe percentage of women directors to total Directors on the board, FOROWN is thepercentage of non-Bangladeshi directors to total Directors on the board, STA is the sizeon the basis of total assets, ROE is the profitability on the basis of Return on equity,DTE is the gearing on the basis of Debt to equity ratio, et is the disturbance term,1 . . . 6 is the Beta coefficient.

Descriptive statistics and the correlation matrixTable VI provides descriptive statistics of the continuous independent variables. It isnoticeable that the Board composition that is measured by the proportion of non-executive directors to total number of directors indicates not many banks have themajority of non-executive directors on the board with a mean of 32 per cent whichclearly indicated that financial institution are mostly dominated by executive directors.The mean value of women representation is only 10 per cent with a highest percentage


CSR reporting

99

of women representation on bank boards is over 30 per cent. Compared to the otherdeveloped and developing counties practices (Thomas, 2001; Burgess and Tharenou,2002), women representation on board seems rather healthier. The ratio of foreigndirectors on bank boards is approximately 21 per cent although some banks boardencompasses half of the foreign nationals.

Table VII presents the correlation matrix for the dependent and continuousindependent variables. As can be seen from Table VII, CSR reporting is positivelyassociated with correlation coefficient of 0.550 ( p < 0.001) proportion of non-executivedirectors on the board, similar to the studys hypothesis. Results also show nosignificant correlation between disclosure of corporate social information andrepresentation of women on the board. Specifically, the correlation coefficient of 0.09( p > 0.001) fails to exhibit any confirmation of a univariate association between CSRreporting and womens presence on the board. However, representation of foreignnational on board is positively related to banks CSR reporting practices.

Result of multiple regressionsTable VIII shows the results of multiple regressions. As can be seen from that table, theregression model explained 42.53 per cent (F 8.233; p 0.000) of the CSR reportingvariance for the explanatory variables. The regression model indicates a significant( p < 0.05) relationship between the board composition variable (COMPNED) with theextent of CSR reporting of surveyed banks. In other words, the more the number ofindependent members on the Bangladeshi PCBs board, the higher the level of social

Table VI.Descriptive statisticsfor the independent

variables

Variables Mean Std. Dev. Min. Max.

COMPNED 32.45 16.24 0.00 72.34COMPWD 10.45 19.08 0.00 30.25FOROWN 20.75 27.50 0.00 50.50STA (Tk. million) 508,000 107,080 69,380 8,566,520ROE 35.50 11.45 22.21 80.79DTE 31.57 25.55 2.70 79.65

Notes: COMPNED Percentage of independent directors to total Directors on the board;COMPWD Percentage of women directors to total Directors on the board;FOROWN Percentage of non-Bangladeshi directors to total Directors on the board; STA sizeon the basis of total assets; ROE profitability on the basis of Return on equity andDTE gearing on the basis of Debt to equity ratio

Table VII.Pearson correlations

Variables CSRRI COMPND COMPWD FOROWN ROE DTE

CSRRI 1COMPNED 0.550** 1COMPWD 0.096 0.095 1FOROWN 0.258** 0.765** 0.074 1STA 0.201* 0.050 0.067 1ROE 0.193* 0.040 0.057 0.168 1DTE 0.051 0.153 0.044 0.143 0.132 1

Notes: *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed) ( p < 0.05); **correlation issignificant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed) ( p < 0.01); n 30

IJLMA52,2

100

information reported in the annual report. This finding supports the studys H1. Thisresult is consistent with the findings of prior disclosure research (Haniffa and Cooke,2002; Chen and Jaggi, 2000) and empirically verifies the influence of non-executivedirectors on CSR reporting practices. Moreover, the finding corroborates the recentbanking sector reforms emphasising on the role of non-executive directors on companyboards in Bangladesh (Haque et al., 2007). However, the result does not support H2 asthe composition of women directors in the board (COMPWD) is not statisticallysignificant ( p > 0.05). Specifically, women representation on board is not significantlyrelated with the extent of CSR reporting reported by the banks. This result is ratherinconsistent with earlier studies that evidenced the presence of women directors havestronger direction towards the CSR reporting (Ibrahim and Angelidis, 1994; Sicilian,1996). One possible explanation of these dissimilar results would be that, womenempowerment in the executive level in Bangladesh is the new phenomenon and mighthave the restricted role to play due to the small numbers occupying the executivepositions. Therefore their role in relation to CSR issues would either be limited orunattended in most cases. The last CG variable, ownership by foreign shareholders(FOROWN) was found to be statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Theproportion of foreign national on the board of banks is significantly related with thelevel of voluntary CSR reporting, accordingly provides evidence for accepting H3.This finding is parallel with prior research by Haniffa and Cooke (2002). The model alsoreveals that two control variables such as size and profitability is statistically significantwith the level of CSR reporting but gearing is not found significant. Large companiesmake more CSR reporting because of accountability and visibility as delineated in LT(Cormier and Gordon, 2001). Thus the studys last hypothesis is partially supported. Thesignificance of profitability was in line with Roberts (1992) but inconsistent with Cowenet al. (1987) and Patten (1991). This specifies that Bangladeshi banks use annual reportsas an opportunity to convey their image and legitimise their activities.

Tests of non-linearity and heteroskedasticity of the data through an analysis ofresiduals indicated no major problem for regression analysis. Norusis (1995, p. 447)described that residuals are what are left over after the model is fit and they are alsothe difference between the observed value of the dependent variable and the valuepredicted by the regression line. Further, the visual examination of correlation matrixof the explanatory variables is thought of an essential way to perceive collinearity

Table VIII.Multiple regressionresults using index(CSRRI) as thedependent variable

Variables Predicted sign Coefficient value (b) t-value p-value VIF

Intercept 1.480 0.154COMPNED 0.420 4.291 0.021* 2.33COMPWD 0.392 5.344 0.433 1.99FOROWN 0.297 3.891 0.001** 1.56STA 0.184 2.923 0.001** 2.10ROE 0.145 2.443 0.002** 1.45DTE 0.42 0.079 0.112 2.34R2 (%) 47.35Adjusted R2 (%) 42.53F statistics 8.233 and p 0.000

Notes: * and ** significant at 5 and 1 per cent levels, respectively


CSR reporting

101

problem. Correlation coefficient is considered problematic if it exceeded 0.8 (Farrar andGlauber 1967; Studenmund 1992). A more precise and indicative method broadly usedis the VIF for each of the independent variable (Kennedy, 1992). According to Neter andKutner (1989) co-linearity is considered a problem if the VIF exceeds ten. Thus, basedon correlation matrix and VIF found in the study (see Tables VII and VIII) it is unlikelythat multicollinearity is to influence the regression results, since the highest VIF of 2.34is far less than the threshold of ten.

Concluding remarks, limitations and further scope of the studyThis study investigates the level of CSR reporting in the annual reports of listed PCBin Bangladesh for the period 2007-08 using content analysis. It also aims to reveal theimpact of CG elements on the level of CSR information reported by banks. The resultsdemonstrate that although voluntary, Bangladeshi PCBs CSR reporting is rathermoderate; however, the varieties of CSR reporting are really impressive. Among allcategories of CSR items, subsequent to products and service related items reporting,most banks disclosed more on the contribution for natural disaster (every banksdonated for the flood and tornado affected people, almost every banks (above 80per cent) distributed worm cloths among the cold-affected people and gave donation toPrime minister relief fund for flood victims people). This is beyond doubt the indicatorsof congenial society devoted activities performed by PCBs and the persistence of suchkinds is essential as the country Bangladesh undergo natural disaster in a frequentmanner. The research demonstrates that Bangladeshi banks extend their CSRactivities towards different sector such as education, health and others sector. TheirCSR efforts on these sectors represent the greater testimony of banks legitimacy(existence) in the society. The finding also evidenced that surveyed banks made theevocative contribution to the educational sector by means of giving scholarships to themeritorious students or gifting books to the colleges and universities libraries. Inrelation to banks overall ranking, while the Dutch Bangla bank Ltd has been obtainedas the most CSR disclosure items bank (they disclosed more than 90 per cent of totalitems), Oriental Banks Ltd has been considered least disclosed bank with regards toCSR reporting items (see Table IV in the analysis part of the study). To accomplishstudys second aim, regression analysis has been used to explain variability in thedependent variable with three elements of CG served as the independent variables inaddition to two bank-specific items considered as control variables. The resultdemonstrates that two CG elements such as non-executive directors and existence offoreign nationalities have the significant impact to explain the CSR reporting inBangladesh, but it provides no significant relationship between the womenrepresentation in the board and CSR reporting. With regards to control variables, sizeand profitability is found statistically significant with the level of banks CSR reportingbut the variable gearing is statistically insignificant. In other words, women presenceon board in PCBs of Bangladesh and gearing ratio do not have any impact on the CSRreporting endeavour by banks.

In connection with the results known above, this study makes a number of possibleimplications to the CSR literature. First, this study has opened an insight into CSRreporting practice of developing countrys banking sector and thus expanding onprevious literature that has focused mainly on developed countries. It has opened upfurther research avenues to compare and contrast these results with the bankingsectors of other developing or developed countries. Second, it has broadened previous

IJLMA52,2

102

CSR research to the banking industry, which has not generally considered from samplecompanies because of the more rigorous regulatory rule. Third, from the studysfinding, it is well documented that tendency of CSR items reporting in an isolatedmanner (lacking the adoption of any guidelines or implementing international practice)alone is not sufficient to attain overall superior level of disclosure unless, banks havethe preparation to put GRI guidelines into practice or other forms of social reporting infuture. Fourth, findings documented that a number of banks in Bangladesh havecontributed to different sectors of the country in particular education, health andothers. The tendency of banks for CSR reporting are in many areas, but perhaps shouldreflect on the findings from Table V on what they reported nothing and shouldconcentrates more on these issues. Fifth, it underlines the importance of non-executivedirectors and existence of foreign nationalities to improve banks communication onCSR information. And lastly, as an endeavour of revealing the CSR reporting intensityprevailing in different banks practices in Bangladesh and hypothesising the impact ofCG elements on CSR, the findings will be a good beginning for further references orwidening future study in the subject matter.

Despite this study has explored some practical implications, it has a limited scope.These limitations however, could stir for future research. First, this analysis of theannual reports study is based on the population sample of Bangladeshi PCBs in theyear 2007-08. Thus, the results of the study must be interpreted only with PCBs andshould not be generalised to other commercial, foreign and non-banking businesssectors. Furthermore, firms listed in Chittagong Stock Exchange or some unlistedfirms in Bangladesh such as Unilever Bangladesh, citi NA Bangladesh might reportCSR items, which have been omitted from the study. Another directions of futureresearch which emerge to be worthy of exploration is to find out the motives andopinions of management towards reporting CSR information. Second, the studyconsiders only one period but the findings of the study might change over time.Therefore, a longitudinal study in different time settings may offer further glitter on theissue to know the changes of CSR reporting across time on annual reports. This pointcalls for particular attention since the researcher earlier attempt (see Khan et al., 2009)based on annual reports of 2004-05 on selected Bangladeshi banks revealed a smallamount of reporting items. Thirdly, the study was limited only to the investigation ofcompanies annual reports. The banks studied might have other means to report CSRitems such as press news, brochures and newsletters etc. Finally, the findings of thestudy must be interpreted within the small sample size. Thus further research attempttaking all commercial banks listed in DSE together with foreign banks would get betterthe generalisation of the findings.

In spite of the above limitations, this study is the primary to investigate CSRreporting practices couple with the impact of governance practices in the specificcontext of banking sectors in developing country such as Bangladesh. Although itsresults should be considered as the introductory insight in this stand, it would set off anumber of researchers perceptively to enlarge their research exertion to a furtherassessment of this area. These days are not far-flung when PCBs of Bangladesh willprepare social reporting and incorporating CSR activities in the strategic decision bycapitalising the positive encouragements and incentives from the regulatory bodies.However, it is well convincing that steady research on CSR reporting is required with aview to certifying that academics and practitioners understanding on this topic is inharmony with what is reported in the real world.


CSR reporting

103

Notes

1. See the Companies Act, 1994 that replaced the Companies Act, 1913 (for all companiesexcept public enterprise), the Bank Companies Act, 1991 (for banking institutions), theInsurance Act, 1938 (for insurance companies), the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 (for allcompanies and public enterprise), the Securities and Exchange Rules, 1987 (only forpublic limited companies).

2. Specialised banks and national commercial banks are omitted from the study becausethe aim of this research was to be familiar with CSR practicing of private commercialbanks. Although a total sample of 30 companies seems too few it does symbolise theentire population assisting the ease with which to draw conclusions about the data.

References

Adams, C.A., Coutts, A. and Harte, G. (1995), Corporate equal opportunities (non-)disclosure,British Accounting Review, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 87-108.

Adams, C.A., Hill, W.Y. and Roberts, C.B. (1998), Corporate social reporting practices inWestern Europe: legitimating corporate behaviour?, British Accounting Review, Vol. 30No. 1, pp. 1-21.

Adams, R.B. and Ferreira, D. (2004), Gender diversity in the boardroom, European CorporateGovernance Institute, FinanceWorking Paper No. 57.

Afroze, S. and Jahan, M.A. (2005), Corporate governance practices in Bangladesh, DhakaUniversity Journal of Business Studies, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 181-96.

Ahmed, F. (2006), Corporate governance Bangladesh perspective, paper presented at theICMAB Conference on Corporate Governance Bangladesh Perspective, Dhaka, pp. 24-7.

Ali, Md. M., Khan, Md. H.U.Z. and Fatima, J.K. (2008), Intellectual capital reporting practices:evidence from Bangladesh, Dhaka University Journal of Business Studies, Vol. 29 No. 1,pp. 23-45.

Amin, A. and Tareq, M. (2006), Reporting on corporate governance as a voluntary disclosure: astudy on the annual reports of Bangladeshi companies, The Bangladesh Accountant,Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 100-5.

Andrew, B.H., Gul, F.A., Guthrie, J.E. and Teoh, H.Y. (1989), A note on corporate social disclosurepractices in developing countries: the case of Malaysia and Singapore, British AccountingReview, Vol. 21, pp. 371-6.

Arun, T.G. and Turner, J. (2003), Corporate governance of banks in developing economies:concepts and issues, Corporate Governance: An International Review, Vol. 12 No. 3,pp. 371-7.

Ayuso, S. and Argandona, A. (2007), Responsible corporate governance: towards a stakeholderboard of directors?, Working Paper No. 701, IESE Business School, Barcelona, July.

Bangladesh Bank (2007), Bangladesh Bank Statistics, Bangladesh Bank, Motijheel, available at:www.bangladesh-bank.org/ (accessed 15 October 2008).

Barako, G.D. and Alistair, M.B. (2008), Corporate social reporting and board representation:evidence from the Kenyan banking sector, Journal of Management Governance, Vol. 12,pp. 309-24.

Belal, A. (2000), Environmental reporting in developing countries: empirical evidence fromBangladesh, Eco-management and Auditing (UK), Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 114-21.

Belal, A. and Owen, D. (2007), The views of corporate managers on the current state of, andfuture prospects for, social reporting in Bangladesh: an engagement-based study,Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 472-94.

Belal, A.R. (1999), Corporate social disclosure in Bangladesh annual reports, The BangladeshAccountants, ICAB, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 76-81.

IJLMA52,2

104

Belal, A.R. (2001), A study of corporate social disclosures in Bangladesh, Managerial AuditingJournal, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 274-89.

Belkaoui, A.R. and Kahl, A. (1978), Corporate financial disclosure in Canada, ResearchMonograph No. 1 of Canadian Certified General Accountants Association, Vancouver.

Bhuiyan, Md. H.U. and Biswas, P.K. (2007), Corporate governance and reporting: an empiricalstudy of the listed companies in Bangladesh, Dhaka University Journal of BusinessStudies, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 34-64.

Branco, C.M. and Rodrigues, L.L. (2008), Social responsibility disclosure: a study of proxiesfor the public visibility of Portuguese banks, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 40,pp. 161-81.

Buhr, N. (1998), Environmental performance legislation and annual report disclosure: the caseof acid rain and Falconbridge, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 11No. 2, pp. 163-90.

Burgess, Z. and Tharenou, P. (2002), Women board directors: characteristics of the few, Journalof Business Ethics, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 39-49.

Campbell, D.J. (2000), Legitimacy theory or managerial reality construction? Corporate socialdisclosure in Marks & Spencer Plc corporate reports, 1969-1997, Accounting Forum,Vol. 24 No. 1, p. 80.

Carter, D.A., Simkins, B.J. and Simpson, W.G. (2003), Corporate governance, board diversity andfirm value,The Financial Review, Vol. 38, pp. 33-53.

Chaudhury, A.M. (2004), Corporate governance an industry perspective, The BangladeshAccountant, October-December, pp. 12-21.

Chen, C. and Jaggi, B. (2000), Association between independent non-executive directors, familycontrol, and financial disclosures in Hong Kong, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy,Vol. 19, pp. 285-310.

Chowdhury, A.I. and Chowdhury, A.K. (1996), Corporate social accounting: do we really needit?,The Bangladesh Accountant, April-June, pp. 90-100.

Claessens, S. (2003), Corporate Governance and Development, Global Corporate GovernanceForum,Washington, DC.

Clarke, J. and Gibson-Sweet, M. (1999), The use of corporate social disclosures in themanagement of reputation and legitimacy. Business Ethics, European Review, Vol. 8 No. 1,pp. 5-13.

Cooke, T.E. (1996), The influence of the Keiretsu on Japanese corporate disclosure, Journal ofInternational Financial Management and Accounting, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 191-215.

Cormier, D. and Gordon, I.M. (2001), An examination of social and environmental reportingstrategies,Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 587-616.

Coulson, A.B. and Monks, V. (1999), Corporate environmental performance considerationswithin bank lending decisions, Eco-Management and Auditing, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 1-10.

Cowen, S.S., Ferreri, L.B. and Parker, L.D. (1987), The impact of corporate characteristics onsocial responsibility disclosure: A typology and frequency-based analysis, Accounting,Organizations and Society, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 111-22.

Dahya, J., Lonie, A.A. and Power, D.M. (1996), The case for separating the roles of Chairman andCEO: an analysis of stock market and accounting data, Corporate Governance AnInternational Review, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 71-7.

(The) Daily Star (2008), 10pc tax waiver on CSR spending, 25 December, p. 6.

Deakin, S. andWhittaker, D.H. (2007), Re-embedding the corporation? Comparative perspectiveson corporate governance, employment relations and corporate social responsibility,Corporate Governance: An International Review, Vol. 15, pp. 1-4.


CSR reporting

105

Deegan, C. and Gordon, B. (1996), A study of the environmental disclosure policies of Australiancorporations,Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 187-99.

Deegan, C. and Rankin, M. (1996), Do Australian companies report environmental newsobjectively? An analysis of environmental disclosures by firms prosecuted successfully bythe Environmental Protection Authority, Accounting, Auditing and AccountabilityJournal, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 52-69.

Deegan, C. and Rankin, M. (1997), The materiality of environmental information to users ofannual reports,Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 562-83.

Deegan, C., Rankin, M. and Tobin, J. (2002), An examination of the corporate social andenvironmental disclosures of BHP from 1983-1997: a test of legitimacy theory,Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 312-43.

Deegan, C., Rankin, M. and Voght, P. (2000), Firms disclosure reactions to major social incidents:Australian evidence,Accounting Forum, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 101-30.

Donaldson, T. and Preston, L. (1995), The stakeholder theory of the corporation concepts,evidence, and implications,Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 65-92.

Douglas, A., John, D. and Brian, J. (2004), Corporate social reporting in Irish financialinstitutions,The TQMMagazine, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 387-9.

Erhardt, N.L., James, D.W. and Charles, B.S. (2003), Board of director diversity and firm financialperformance, Corporate Governance An International Comparison, Vol. 11 No. 2,pp. 102-11.

Fama, E. and Jensen, M. (1983), Separation of ownership and control, Journal of Law andEconomics, Vol. 26, pp. 301-25.

Farrar, D. and Glauber, R. (1967), Multicollinearity in regression analysis: the problem revisited,Review of Economics and Statistics, pp. 92-107.

Fields, M.A. and Keys, P.Y. (2003), The emergence of corporate governance fromWall St to MainSt: outside directors, board diversity, earnings management, and managerial incentives tobear risk,The Financial Review, Vol. 38, pp. 1-24.

(The) Financial Express (2008), The Bangladesh Bank (BB) will monitor adoption of CSR bybanks, p. 4, available at: www.thefinancialexpressbd.info/ (accessed 18 December).

Gray, R. (2002), The social accounting project and accounting, organisations and society:privileging engagement, imaginings, new accountings and pragmatism over critique?,Accounting, Organisations and Society, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 687-708.

Gray, R., Kouhy, R. and Lavers, S. (1995a), Corporate social and environmental reporting: areview of the literature and a longitudinal study of UK disclosure, Accounting, Auditingand Accountability Journal, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 47-77.

Gray, R., Kouhy, R. and Lavers, S. (1995b), Constructing a research database of social andenvironmental reporting by UK companies, Accounting, Auditing and AccountabilityJournal, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 78-101.

Griffiths, M. (2007), Consumer debt in Australia: why banks will not turn their backs on profit,International Journal of Consumer Studies, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 230-6.

Guthrie, J. and Parker, L. (1990), Corporate social disclosure practice: a comparativeinternational analysis,Advances in Public Interest Accounting, Vol. 3, pp. 159-75.

Guthrie, J.E. and Parker, L.D. (1989), Corporate social reporting: a rebuttal of legitimacy theory,Accounting & Business Research, Vol. 19 No. 76, pp. 343-52.

Halabi, A.K., Kazi, A.U., Dang, V. and Samy, M. (2006), Corporate social responsibility: how thetop ten stack up,Monash Business Review, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 20-4.

Haniffa, R.M. and Cooke, T.E. (2002), Culture, corporate governance and disclosure in Malaysiancorporations,Abacus, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 317-49.

IJLMA52,2

106

Haniffa, R.M. and Cooke, T.E. (2005), The impact of culture and governance on corporate socialreporting, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 391-430.

Haque, A.K.E., Jalil, M.B. and Naz, F. (2007), State of corporate governance in Bangladesh:analysis of public limited companies financial, nonfinancial institution and state ownedenterprises, Working Paper Series No. 2, Centre for Research and Training, Dhaka,September.

Harte, G. and Owen, D. (1991), Environmental disclosure in the annual reports of Britishcompanies: a research note, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3,pp. 51-61.

Herremans, I.M., Akathaporn, P. and McInnes, M. (1993), An investigation of corporate socialresponsibility reputation and economic performance, Accounting, Organizations andSociety, Vol. 18 Nos 7/8, pp. 587-604.

Holsti, O.R. (1969), Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Addison-Wesley,London.

Hossain, M., Tan, L.M. and Adams, M. (1994), Voluntary disclosure in an emerging capitalmarket: Some empirical evidence from companies listed on Kuala Lumpur stockexchange,The International Journal of Accounting, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 334-51.

Huse, M., and Solberg, A.G. (2006), Gender-related boardroom dynamics: how Scandinavianwomen make and can make contributions on corporate boards, Women in ManagementReview, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 113-30.

Ibrahim, N.A., and Angelidis, J.P. (1994), Effect of board members gender on corporate socialresponsiveness orientation, Journal of Applied Business Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 35-41.

Imam, M.O. (2006), Firm performances and corporate governance through ownership structure:evidence from Bangladesh stock market, Proceedings of the ICMAB Conference onCorporate Governance Bangladesh Perspective,Dhaka, pp. 31-47.

Imam, S. (2000), Corporate social performance reporting in Bangladesh, Managerial AuditingJournal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 133-41.

Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H. (1976), Theory of the firm managerial behavior, agency costsand ownership structure, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 305-60.

Jeucken, M.H.A. and Bouma, J.J. (1999), The changing environment of banks, GreenerManagement International, Vol. 27, pp. 21-35.

Kennedy, P. (1992),AGuide to Econometrics, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Khalid, A. (2005), The association between firm-specific characteristics and disclosure: the caseof Saudi Arabia,The Journal of American Academy of Business, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 1-26.

Khan, Md. H.U.Z., Halabi, A.K. and Samy, M. (2009), CSR reporting practice: a study of selectedbanking companies in Bangladesh, Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 344-57.

Leung, S. and Horwitz, B. (2004), Director ownership and voluntary segment disclosure: HongKong evidence, Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, Vol. 15No. 3, pp. 235-60.

Lindblom, C.K. (1993), The implications of organizational legitimacy for corporate socialperformance and disclosure, paper presented at the Critical Perspectives on AccountingConference, New York, NY.

McLaren, D. (2004), Global stakeholders: corporate accountability and investor engagement,Corporate Governance: An International Review, Vol. 12, pp. 191-201.

Macey, J. and OHara, M. (2001), The corporate governance of banks, Federal Reserve Bank ofNew York Economic Policy Review, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 97-107.

Maier, S. (2005),How Global is Good Governance?, Ethical Investment Research Services, London.


CSR reporting

107

Mangos, N.C. and Lewis, N.R. (1995), A socio-economic paradigm for analysing managers accounting choice behaviour, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 8 No. 1,pp. 38-62.

Malone, D., Fries, C. and Jones, T. (1993), An empirical investigation of the extent of corporatefinancial disclosure in the oil and gas industry, Journal of Accounting, Auditing andFinance, Vol. 8, pp. 249-73.

Mathews, M.R. (1997), Twenty-five years of social and environmental accounting research:is there a silver jubilee to celebrate?, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal,Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 481-531.

Milne, M.J. and Pattern, D.M. (2002), Securing organisational legitimacy: an experimentaldecision case examining the impact of environmental disclosures,Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 372-405.

Mir, M.Z. and Rahaman, A.S. (2005), The adoption of international accounting standards inBangladesh: an exploration of rationale and process, Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 816-41.

Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R. and Wood, D.J. (1997), Toward a theory of stakeholder identificationand salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts, Academy ofManagement Review, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 853-86.

Moerman, L. and Van Der Laan, S. (2005), Social reporting in the tobacco industry: all smokeand mirrors?,Accounting, Auditing &Accountability Journal, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 374-89.

Murthy, V. and Abeysekera, I. (2008), Corporate social reporting practices of top Indian softwarefirms,The Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 36-50.

Myers, S.C. (1977), Determinants of corporate borrowing, Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 5,pp. 147-75.

Neter, J. and Kutner, M. (1989),Applied Linear Regression Models, Irwin, Illinois, IL, pp. 1-220.

Neu, D., Warsame, H. and Pedwell, K. (1998), Managing public impressions: environmentaldisclosures in annual reports, Accounting, Organisations and Society, Vol. 23 No. 3,pp. 265-82.

Newson, M. and Deegan, C. (2002), An exploration of the association between globalexpectations and corporate social disclosure practices in the AsiaPacific region, TheIn

the_effect of cg in csr in bangladesh

Documents

csr disclosures

banks csr reporting

csr literature

csr related disclosure

elements of cg

varieties of csr items

board andcsr reporting

keywords financial reporting