CSR disclosure by Italian companies. An empirical analysis

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) can be defined as “the process of communicating the social, ethical and environmental effects of organisations’ economic actions to particular interest groups within society and to society at large”. In certain countries, such as France, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, firms are under legal obligation to disclose socio-environmental accounting . In Italy firms may opt to disclose CSR at their own discretion in stand-alone reports such as social, sustainability or environmental reports. The book present the results of a research that examines the quality and quantity characteristics of voluntary CSRD made by Italian companies. The aim of the research is to verify the existence and describe the characteristics of a “system of relationships” between methods used by Italian firms and types of information disseminated. Our findings show that there is a certain level of attention paid to CSRD by these firms, and that there is a significant difference in the type and quantity of information disclosed depending on whether the firm issues a specific CSR report or whether it simply makes information available on its website.