Corporate Social Responsibility and Reporting in Denmark - Impact of the legal requirement for reporting on CSR in the Danish Financial Statements Act

In 2008 the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) passed an amendment to the Danish Financial Statements Act. According to the new Act, approx. 1,100 large businesses in Denmark must include reports on the following three dimensions in their annual report: 1) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies, 2) how these policies are translated into actions, and 3) what the business has achieved as a result of working with CSR and expectations for the future (if any). If the business has no CSR policy, this must be explicitly disclosed. The objective of the legal requirement is to encourage businesses to take an active position on CSR and communicate this to their surroundings. This report presents the main conclusions of a survey of businesses? implementation of the new legal requirement in their 2009 annual reports. The survey has been prepared by the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency, The Institute of State Authorized Public Accountants in Denmark and Copenhagen Business School, and consists of a range of qualitative and quantitative studies. The report describes both businesses? reporting practices and their experience of working with the legal requirement.