Accounting for globalization: evaluating the potential effectiveness of country-by-country reporting. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wójcik, Dariusz
• Other Names: Börzel Tanja guest-editor.; Fagan Adam guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Environment and planning. Volume 33:Number 5(2015)
• Page Start: 1173
• Page End: 1189
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: accounting standards -- public policy -- governance -- Europe -- resources -- corporate social responsibility; Policy sciences -- Periodicals; Public administration -- Periodicals; Policy sciences; Public administration; Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1177/0263774X15612338
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0263-774X

Abstract

The new European Union Accounting and Capital Requirements directives and the US Dodd-Frank Act include provisions on country-by-country reporting, which significantly improve the availability of geographical information on corporate activities. They are, however, a far cry from the idea of full country-by-country reporting, which involves the publication of simplified financial statements by companies for each country in which they operate. This paper outlines the trajectory of the political struggle for countryby- country reporting, and presents an exploratory analysis of potential effectiveness of different versions of country-by-country reporting in terms of policy objectives, the nature of information, as well as the behavior of users and disclosers. It argues that although partial country-by-country reporting offers benefits for the fight against corruption and the assessment of corporate reputational risks by investors and other stakeholders, full country-by-country reporting could offer a greater value to investors and other users, and make a change in disclosers' behavior more likely.