En analyse af CSR rapportering i Norden

Abstract

Interest in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has increased significantly in recent years. Consequently some countries have chosen to regulate CSR reporting through legislation while other has left it voluntary. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the developments in the reporting of CSR in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and how different legislation influence on the reporting To answer the question of the thesis, we have compared national law in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and the most commonly used standards for reporting of CSR. This gives a good understanding of the current legislation in these countries and insight to the requirements of the international standards for CSR. We have analyzed the CSR reports submitted by the largest listed companies to see if there are differences in their reporting and how they interpret national law and international standards for CSR. To get more detailed information about the CSR reports we have conducted a questionnaire survey in which we asked the largest listed companies about their work with CSR. We conclude our analyze with an assessment of 6 companies CSR report. We have found that Denmark is the only country that has legislation that requires companies of a certain size to report about their CSR policies. The Danish legislation is very similar to the CSR standards issued under UNGC. Sweden has legislation that requires state owned companies to report on CSR in accordance with GRI standards. Norway does not have any legislation that regulates the reporting of CSR. We concluded that there are differences in the number of companies reporting. Denmark and Sweden who has legislation has the highest number of reporting companies. We found that legislation has a positive impact on the quality of the CSR report filed by those companies who only give basic information. Whereas legislation has little effect on the CSR report from those companies who files an extended CSR report. We didn’t find any clear connection between legislation and the number of CSR reports with a verification from an external party. The questionnaire showed a tendency that demands for CSR reports are higher in Sweden compared to Denmark and Norway.