The Relationship Between Accountability, Transparency, and Company Performances: An Ex-Post Facto Study

Companies that fully adopt accountability reporting practices are less likely to engage in financial fraud or unethical business behaviors, improving company performance (CP). The CP is predictable by accountability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) and transparency or corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). Financial managers of U.S. publicly traded companies who fail to adopt the CSR and CSRD practices and inconsistently disclose annual financial reports could suffer from a lack of public trust and decreased profitability. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this quantitative ex-post-facto study was to examine the relationship between CSR, CSRD, and four CP outcome measures: income, return on equity, return on assets, and earnings per share. Secondary data were collected from the sample of 91 U.S. publicly traded companies listed on the NYSE for 2017, 2018, and 2019. The results of each of the four multiple linear regression analyses were not significant. A key recommendation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to implement accepted unique CSR reporting standards for all U.S. publicly traded companies. The implications for positive social change include the potential for financial managers and senior business leaders to promote sound ethical practices that could lead to social development and value creation for the communities and society