CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is an important part of communication with stakeholders and a response to the need for non-fi nancial reports. Regrettably, the rules of non-fi nancial reporting are almost not regulated. CSR reports are drafted using a variety of principles and guidelines, which limits comparisons across enterprises, transparency and assessment of progress. The reasons for reporting non-fi nancial information cited in the specialist literature, and by enterprises preparing CSR reports are examined, and the benefi ts of standardising reports of nonfi nancial information are determined. The literature review and empirical research into the motivations for CSR reporting and the trends in reporting of non-fi nancial information helped to verify the initial hypotheses: 1. Communication with stakeholders is the fundamental reason for reporting non-fi nancial information. This is confi rmed by the literature review, with most authors believing this is the prime reason for preparing CSR reports. Authors indicating other motivations still treat it as the fundamental cause which exists jointly with other motivations. 2. The need to standardise CSR reporting to ensure its transparency and clarity is noted by reporting organisations. This is proven by surveys of organisations drafting CSR reports – approximately 80% of all reports follow the GRI guidelines. This means the reporting enterprises wish their reports to be clear, transparent and comparable and for their stakeholders to be able to fully satisfy their information requirements. This is also evidence of the care for good relations with stakeholders, who receive standardised data although this is not binding on enterprises. A growing tendency for CSR reporting to follow guidelines other than the GRI can be noted in the entire period under analysis. This will not necessarily be a single compulsory standard, yet a model report would need to be followed to assure transparency and comparability. The Regulations of the Directive 2014/95/EU are a step forward since they will help to standardise rules of reporting non-fi nancial information and will improve its transparency and utility.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethics, and sustainability have become an inseparable part of the discourse of modern business. Applying linear regression and comparison of intervals of beta-coefficients, we focused on the mediating role of CSR in the relations between capital structure and its determinants. Examining the sample of European large caps, we observed that CSR companies are significantly more leveraged than non-CSR ones. The influence of the corporate income tax rate and depreciation and amortization on leverage does not differ significantly between CSR and non-CSR companies. Moreover, tax shields seem to be insignificant for both CSR and non-CSR companies. However, we should stress that, for depreciation and amortization, the beta coefficient has a different significance in the model of CSR companies, compared to the model of non-CSR companies. Also, the difference between the models regarding the relations of leverage and asset tangibility is worth noting. Non-CSR companies with a higher proportion of fixed assets have lower leverage. This result was not confirmed for CSR companies. The hypothesis that CSR replaces the role of collateral cannot be confirmed. Available cash influences leverage negatively in both models, supporting the pecking-order theory. This result is much stronger for non-CSR companies compared to CSR ones. This study found fewer statistically significant differences between CSR and non-CSR companies regarding capital structure determinants than were expected.

This paper compares how Czech and Slovak microentrepreneurs perceive the volume and ease of access to finance that they face. Having an adequate number of sources of finance and easier access to them can help improve both enterprise and country performance. Chi-square and Z score tests for population proportions were used to test hypotheses. 740 microenterprises from Czech Republic and 287 microenterprises from Slovakia were included for the analyses that were performed by this study. The results show that Czech microentrepreneurs feel they have more sources of finance and have easier access to them than their Slovak counterparts. These differences may in part be linked to other factors such as the experience and age of microentrepreneurs and micro-firms, amount of business loans and microfinancing organizations, credit interest rates and credit rejection rates, the relative degree of economic freedom, the volume of government guarantees, relative GDP levels, the quality of business environment and ease of doing business. Additionally, The Moran’s I spatial autocorrelation index was performed to evaluate influence of location on the perception of Czech and Slovak microenterprises that were located in different regions of both countries. The paper also discusses the results’ policy implications for governments and financial institutions.

The Slovakian Forest-Based Sector in the Context of Globalization