The impact of ESG reporting on the financial performance of Russian public companies

Bela S. Bataeva, Aglaya D. Kokurina and Nikita A. Karpov
Additional contact information
Bela S. Bataeva: Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Aglaya D. Kokurina: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
Nikita A. Karpov: Benchmark Executive, Moscow, Russia

Upravlenets, 2021, vol. 12, issue 6, 20–32

Abstract: There is a growing interest in non-financial reporting of public companies, which includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The paper studies how the degree of ESG disclosure affects corporate performance in Russia. Methodologically, the study relies on the concept of corporate sustainability and stakeholders, according to which ESG reporting increases investors and customers’ confidence in the company and thereby contributes to the growth of profit-based indicators. Among the research methods applied are descriptive, correlation and regression analysis of the relationship between ESG disclosure and return on assets (ROA), equity (ROE) and capital (ROC) of public companies. The sample includes 50 Russian companies whose shares were traded on the Moscow Exchange between 2010 and 2019. The research demonstrates that ESG reporting has a statistically significant positive impact on the financial performance of the companies under review. The degree of this influence is different according to the enterprise’s industry, size and debt level. Moreover, even in similar companies the impact depends on the level of ESG disclosure. The obtained results are of interest primarily to lenders, since the study focuses on financial profit-based indicators, while investors, in addition to traditional analysis, also use value analysis.

Keywords: sustainable development; corporate social responsibility; corporate sustainability; financial performance; ESG factors; public companies; Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 D21 G32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://upravlenets.usue.ru/images/94/2.pdf (application/pdf)
https://upravlenets.usue.ru/en/issues-2021/909 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:url:upravl:v:12:y:2021:i:6:p:20-32

DOI: 10.29141/2218-5003-2021-12-6-2

Access Statistics for this article

Upravlenets is currently edited by Yulia S. Bausova

More articles in Upravlenets from Ural State University of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Victor Blaginin ().