Exploring the Impact of Regulation for Reporting Social and Environmental Information: Evidence From Italian Preparers and Auditors

The increasing demand for non-financial information about the sustainability of economic activities has led the EU legislator to introduce the Directive 95/2014 to foster the transparency and the comparability of Corporate Social Reporting (CSR). This paper reports the findings of a study into the views of preparers and auditors regarding specific features of the new regulation. In particular, the issues examined cover: i) the reasons that justify the regulation of CSR; ii) the scope of the CSR statement; iii) the reporting format of CS information, and iv) the assurance required. It is found that managers favour many of the developments introduced by the Directive. In particular, the Board responsibility for CSR is regarded as a fundamental step for the diffusion of social and environmental policies throughout the whole entity, both at the horizontal and the vertical level. Further, the flexibility in the content, in the reporting format and in the choice of the reporting standards is regarded as an efficient approach to discipline CSR.