The disclosure of non-financial information by stock-exchange-listed companies in Poland, in the light of the changes introduced by the Directive 2014/95/EU

Abstract

Beginning in 2017, stock-exchange-listed companies in Poland have been obliged to publish non-financial information. This is due to the implementation of Directive 2014/95/EU in Polish law, which requires the dis- closure of extended non-financial information on the part of specified large public-interest companies and capi- tal groups. Taking the above into consideration, the aim of this article is to answer the following questions: 1) What is the state of the non-financial disclosures made by stock-exchange-listed companies in Poland? 2) What are the differences in reporting non-financial information by companies from various industries? 3) What factors affect the disclosure of non-financial information? In total, 53 companies were researched. The results obtained indicate that the form of the disclosures varies. Most commonly, non-financial information was presented in management commentaries. The scope of the information presented was diverse. The most non-financial disclosures were made by companies from the chemical and the energy sectors. The following factors influenced the publication of this type of information: the entity’s size, its market value and the industry to which a given company belongs. In contrast, no positive associations between the economic performance of a company and non-financial disclosure, nor between the financial leverage of a company and non-financial disclosure have been found, with the exception of companies from the low-profile sector. The studies involved content analysis and the Tobit regression model. Existing results of research on non-financial reporting made by stock-exchange-listed companies in Poland did not en- compass the last reporting period prior to the introduction of the changes to the Act on Accounting. Therefore, the results obtained allow us to determine the degree of preparation on the part of the researched companies belonging to various sectors (of larger and smaller environmental nuisance).