Assessment of the Mandatory Non-Financial Reporting of Romanian Companies in the Circular Economy Context.

Between the circular economy and corporate social responsibility, there is an ever-closer connection. Non-financial reporting of social responsibility actions is based on the circular economy concept, so reporting contributes to increasing the level of disclosure of circular strategies. In this context, large companies are required to report non-financial information to understand their activities better. The paper's objective is to assess the mandatory non-financial reporting of Romanian companies active in the non-financial sector for 2017-2019. The empirical analysis consisted of creating and awarding an evaluation score to the reports of the companies. An econometric model was tested using a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) regression to identify the link of the obtained Score with a series of variables representing the characteristics of the companies: Information on a website (I), Foreign ownership (F), Private ownership (P), Listed company (L), Return on assets (ROA), and Return on equity (ROE). Research results highlight a positive correlation between Score and all variables statistically significant in the model. Our study empirically validated the link between non-financial reporting and financial performance. The practical implications for managers can be to focus on improving the quality of non-financial reporting by better presenting the sustainability actions in a circular economy context.

Responsible Communication of Romanian Companies for Ensuring Public Health in a COVID-19 Pandemic Context.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to respond to the threat of this risk and innovate in corporate governance. In order to reduce the risk of illness, one of the most applied measures by all companies was social distancing, but to avoid human interaction, companies had to adapt their communication strategies. The objective of the paper is to assess the risk management of Romanian-listed companies associated with COVID-19 focusing on their business communication with shareholders and stakeholders. To emphasis the communication we have chosen to analyze all public reports during the state of emergency of the companies listed on the main market at the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The empirical analysis consists of a panel data econometric model using maximum likelihood random-effects regression and a logistical regression to highlight the correlations between the dependent variables Public Reports and Business Continuity Plan and the analyzed independent variables. The study showed that in most cases, the companies had at least one public report, especially the one related to the annual shareholders meeting, a percentage of 21% of companies had two public reports, and only 17% of companies have published three or more reports. The companies that communicated the most were the ones belonging to the premium trading category, and the number of published reports was influenced by the communication evaluation indicator, profitability and by the announcement of the donations made.

Promoting Good Public Governance and Environmental Support for Sustainable Economic Development.

Good governance promotes the fundamental grounds of participation and democracy in contemporary public administration, whilst institution building and the (in)effectiveness of public administration is linked to economic growth. This synergy brings forth sheer implications on the sustainable economic development. On this composite setting, the paper examines several fundamental credentials of public administration in the European Union (EU) countries, in relation to economic development, but also poverty, research, and development support, as representative socio-economic credentials. The empirical analysis is based on data covering the 1995-2017 lapse of time, processed through three econometric procedures, namely robust regression, structural equation modeling, and Gaussian graphical models. The main results emphasize that there are significant joint implications of public administration on the considered socio-economic dimensions. General government spending and, particularly, the environmental support, have positive implications on the European Union economies, leading to significant increases in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and downsize in poverty risk (more emphasized in regard to the government expenditures than the environmental protection). Overall, the quality of governance in EU countries requires an additional effort dedicated to leverage good public governance in order to support the long-term economic development.