Abstract:

Malaysia, in general, is seen as one of the active countries in engaging with the global Corporate Social Responsibility (hereafter, CSR) initiatives and practices. A number of financial and non-financial supports towards local CSR-related programmes and initiatives have been carried out by the country, including CSR national awards, related policies and regulations, tax incentives as well as CSR-related reporting regulations. The introduction of the CSR Framework by Bursa Malaysia in 2006 obviously had made a positive mark towards greater business engagement in CSR management and practice in the nation, which include CSR-related reporting accountability. CSR disclosure practices reflect companies’ reporting accountability towards providing information to numerous stakeholder groups. Particularly, CSR disclosures have the potential to strengthen the bond vis-à-vis contract between companies and the society at large (Turker, 2009).  Hence, these CSR-related potentials and benefits indicate the need for good governance structure in promoting greater disclosure practices (see Bayoud and Kavanagh, 2012).