Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 5146: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance and Business Performance: Limits and Challenges Imposed by the Implementation of Directive 2013/34/EU in Romania (Sustainability)

In order to identify the factors that have influenced the Romanian companies’ level of compliance required by the Directive 2013/34/EU with respect to publishing, alongside the annual financial statements for 2017, a report containing non-financial information regarding environmental, social, and personal aspects, and business ethics, the following steps were taken in our groundbreaking study: firstly, we analyzed whether there are statistical associations between the level of compliance and the legal forms of organization, the forms of ownership of capital, the branch of activity, the number of employees, the turnover, and the company location; secondly, we evaluated the meaning and intensity of these associations with the help of non-parametric correlation coefficients; thirdly, we identified and presented the economic and social causes of the results obtained; and fourthly, we proposed measures that can contribute to increasing the degree of compliance. What is more, this rigorous scientific work highlights the need to enhance corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in order to create an appropriate balance between sustainability, competitiveness, productivity, and businesses’ financial and non-financial performance, while taking into consideration the benefits brought by the tangible value of businesses (such as, cash flow and earnings) as well as the intangible value of businesses (such as, brand, customer experience, intellectual capital, organizational culture and reputation).