The Ephemeral Corporate Social Responsibility Committment Pursuant to Annual Reports –A Czech Case Study

The objective of this paper is to determine the international, EU and Czech national legal framework and, based on that, to empirically and comparatively assess the corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) commitment of the ten largest Czech companies, by sales, as witnessed by their annual reports in the context. Design/methodology/approach:The authors have identified theoretic and practical perceptions of the CSR, have conducted a holistic and interdisciplinary research and teleological interpretation of legislative and academic, primary and secondary, sources. They identified the legal framework for the content, form and publication requirements for annual reports of companies, while paying attention to the CSR. They used Meta-Analysis to scrutinize annual reports, for 2016, of the 10 largest Czech companies to assess their CSR commitment. They have implied current trends in the perception and approach to the CRS. Findings:The evolving perception of the CSR is, despite global and regional harmonization efforts, as yet unsettled. The Czech law appears to demand the general and gratuitous e-publication of annual reports with basic CSR data, while the EU law and other EU member states’ law seems to impose a rather special and deeper CSR reporting, not necessarily fully and freely available online. The Czech Case study reveals both the observance of the law and significant differences in the CSR commitment across industries. These legislative and real reporting discrepancies suggest modifications of the current status quo to fit in Europe 2020. Research/practical implications: Our review of legislative frameworks and practical approaches to the CSR demonstrates a number of discrepancies and the lack of commonly acceptable denominators. Our case study confirms it, points to the industry differences and invites for the modification of the approach and legislation of the CSR reporting. Originality/value:The presented overview, assessment and case study exploit, in a unique manner, the CSR legislation and perception, and call for changes fitting in Europe 2020.