Transparent Reporting on Financial Assets as a Determinant of a Company’s Value—A Stakeholder’s Perspective during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic and beyond

Abstract

Background: Socio-economic changes prompt companies to disclose their sustainable development activities in the reporting, showing that they balance three capitals—economic, environmental, and social. On the other hand, while formulating strategies and goals, they consider the company’s widely understood environment, where its stakeholders are essential. As a result, the transparency and usefulness of the reported information are limited. Methods: The study employed financial statements’ content analysis and a statistical method (rank Spearman correlation, Shapiro–Wilk test). The percentage of change in critical areas for reporting transparency on financial assets was analyzed, before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Results: The research indicated that the identified critical reporting areas concerning financial assets showed a greater value change during the pandemic. Correlations between the accounting value of the company and the same critical reporting areas were significant. Conclusion: It has been shown that larger companies can use more accounting policy instruments; therefore, the reporting transparency on financial assets is potentially lower for these companies. The transparency of the surveyed corporate reports during the pandemic was lower.