Can enhanced CSR quality reduce the cost of debt capital? An empirical analysis of CEO expertise and non-financial reporting practices in China

Environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) are considered to be the main factors in measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of companies. This article focuses on comparing the ability of insurance companies to use an ESG-driven approach to managing their sustainable development. The study is conducted using comparative analysis, statistical analysis, and a case study method. The study compares six ESG Ratings on four main criteria (dependent variables, independent variables, scale type, sample), that allows choosing the most appropriate rating for the analysis of insurance companies. As a result, 156 insurance companies are compared by the level of ESG risk (low ESG risk – 24 companies, medium ESG risk – 111 companies, high ESG risk – 21 companies) and by geographical affiliation (26 countries) using descriptive statistics. The assessment of effectiveness of the ESG-driven approach to managing sustainable development of insurance companies is carried out on the example of 16 companies by comparing their non-financial reporting (the sample is selected based on of the annual report for 2019-2020). The study identifies the most common guidelines for report development, as well as components of the ESG-driven approach: environmental (waste and pollution, climate change, energy efficiency), social (workforce and diversity, customer engagement, communities), governance (code and values, reporting, risk management). The study systematizes the best practices of insurance companies for applying the ESG-driven approach to manage their sustainable development and highlights the need for insurance companies to improve their reporting and disclosure practices related to the development of the ESG-driven approach.

Acknowledgment
Comments from the Editor and anonymous referees have been gratefully acknowledged.

The relevance of the study is caused by the fact that the non-financial reporting of business entities and the intensification of process of globalization are becoming nowadays an important source of information for making managerial decisions by different groups of stakeholders. The process of its implementation, definition of types, forms and content remains legally unregulated for Ukraine. A process of its audit requires a systemic solution and an appropriate independent audit opinion.
The purpose of the article is to summarize the European and international experience in the field of regulation of drawing up and publication of non-financial reporting, to work out problems of its content definition and to provide proposals for the regulation of these issues in Ukraine, to define the recommended groups of indicators, and to ground the main directions and tasks of their audit.
It is proposed to create a general concept for the implementation and development of non-financial reporting in Ukraine, which may require the adoption of the future Law of Ukraine “On Public Non-Financial Reporting”, national standards for its preparation, and relevant methodological recommendations for their implementation. The directions of development of theoretical, organizational and methodical issues of audit of non-financial reporting are provided.
A number of valid normative acts of the Audit Chamber of Ukraine in terms of the regulation of audit of non-financial reporting and improvement of professional qualifications of specialists require clarification and accompaniments.

Corporate social responsibility issues are becoming increasingly important in the banking sector. It refers to the responsibility of banks for their business activities subject to conceivable implications for society and the environment. Currently, the modern banking system in Ukraine is in the process of shaping its own model and integrating corporate social responsibility into all business processes. Thus, it is argued that objective comprehensive assessment of corporate social responsibility of Ukrainian banks is an essential prerequisite to enhance their performance, along with building a good rapport with clients and encouraging trust in society. From the above perspective, this article suggests an approach to assess corporate social responsibility at banks which entails implementing consistent stages in evaluating the development degree of the three corporate social responsibility components: social, environmental and economic. The assessment framework substantiates a set of indicators for measuring the degree of corporate social responsibility at banks by estimating the ratio of the GRI related aspects in the financial statements of banks, and identifying the possibility to implement the main provisions of the Social Accountability International 8,000 standard and the GRI G4 (Global Reporting Initiative). The proposed approach to measuring corporate social responsibility in banking through the instruments of a three-dimensional matrix and to positioning the banks by the areas of their corporate social responsibility has been tested by processing an array of 82 non-financial reports of 31 banks over the 2016–2018 period.