기업의 CSR 활동과 이익의 질과의 관계

This study focuses how CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities effect the continuous growth and financial performance of the companies. Instead of traditional advertising focusing on product benefits, lots of recent studies are drawing attention to CSR activities as corporate promotional tools for enhancing firm value. CSR activities are recognized as necessary methods for building good relationships with stake-holders through the efforts to solve social problems as good social citizens. Although prior researches document the positive association between CSR activities including good corporate governance quality and firm value, no research has been conducted to investigate into their relation theoretically or empirically. In this study, We focus on the reliability of accounting information to explain their relation. Prior studies provide empirical evidence that firms with good corporate governance practices report more reliable accounting information. We examine the relation between the quality of earnings, perceived as the core accounting information and CSR activities in an attempt to provide an explanation for the positive association between CSR activities including good corporate governance and firm value. In order to analyze the relationship between CSR activities and the quality of earnings, the empirical analysis has been done by taking the basis of the 7-year data from 2005 to 2011, which promotes KEJI index of a substitution of CSR activities. The sample firms are selected among the manufacturing firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. Accounting and financial data are collected from the Fn-data Guide provided by a financial data serving company and cover the period between 2005 and 2011. KEJI index is used as the independent variable of the regression model. This work is conducted on a number of samples selected from 1,200 corporations that possess KEJI Index which is issued by the Korean Economic Justice Institute annually. KEJI Index is composed of 7 main CSR subsection activities. In addition, as suggested by prior research several control variables are included in the independent variables; debt ratio, total assets, operating risk which is the ratio between average assets and (sales receivable + inventories) and company age for the independent variables, while using EPS volatility and current acccruals volatility of a substitution of earnings quality, as the dependent variable. Through the analysis, the effect of the total CSR activities on EPS volatility and current accruals volatility showed the negative relationship which is not statistically significant. Further, independent variables which have the positive significant effect on EPS volatility and accrual asset volatility are total assets and company age, but debt ratio has the negative significant effect on EPS volatility and accrual asset volatility and operating risk is not statistically significant. This result implies that the better CSR activities, the higher quality of earning; but, corporate governance to increase firm value is not an important factor in explaining the CSR activities of Korean public companies. In conclusion, the proper CSR activities of companies can be the very useful strategic means which ultimately improves the firm value by strengthening the corporate governance as well as satisfying increasing internal and external demand. To supplement this study, more objective theoretical models that can bring out the relationship between CSR activities and earnings quality and the determinants must be created, and also, further studies that can analyze it empirically are needed.