Abstract:

Small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in most countries, in particular in emerging economies. They do not fall under the scope of recent changes in the non-financial reporting landscape introduced by the Directive 2014/95/EU, as new requirements are aimed only at large Public Interest Entities (PIEs). Yet, SMEs involve themselves voluntarily into CSR actions and related reporting.  The paper aims to identify the approach to non-financial disclosures of SMEs, which practice CSR in their day-to-day businesses. The research sample consists of 32 companies operating in Poland, included in the 'Responsible Business in Poland. Best Practices' issued by the Responsible Business Forum (RBF). The voluntary CSR reports and corporate websites are analyzed to identify the scope of non financial disclosures. A disclosure index based on the ISO 26000 standard is used to evaluate corporate disclosures. It distinguishes seven CSR areas: organizational governance, human rights, labor practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, community involvement, and development. The corporate practices are also evaluated against this standard in the RBF report. The research findings allow stating that SMEs engaged in CSR activities provide non-financial disclosures mainly on corporate websites and to a lesser degree in separate CSR reports. The disclosures on community involvement and development are the most popular among analyzed companies. Over half of them disclose some information in this area. Philanthropic and charitable actions, eco-office, education of children and youth, and training and development of employees are most often reported topics.