INTEGRATION OF NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING IN THE BULGARIAN MOST TRADED COMPANIES

Abstract

Today, a large number of investors base their forecasts, and subsequently make investment decisions, by combining financial and non-financial information. If, until recently, financial data and indicators calculated on their bases were not sufficient for justifying investment decisions, nowadays the situation is rather different. Non-financial information, as a totality of data about environmental, managerial, and social productivity, has a key significance in the assessment of investment projects. The role of this type of information increases further as a result of the establishment of the so-called socially responsible investment, social indices such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index, FTSE4Good, CSR index, etc., and last but not least, the Principle for Responsibility Investments initiative. Bearing in mind those global processes, business enterprises would benefit from the integration of non-financial reporting in their systems of communication with investors. This is particularly significant for the enterprises in certain groups, for instance, public companies whose shares are traded on the stock exchanges. In unison with the presented possibilities, trends and processes, the aim of this article is to assess the degree to which the enterprises included in the SOFIX index of the Bulgarian stock exchange disclose non-financial information. This index comprises the most liquid Bulgarian public enterprises, as the hypothesis which shall be proven is that the studied enterprises disclose a wide range of non-financial information exceeding the legal requirements and aiming at increasing their investment attractiveness. No such research among Bulgarian public enterprises has been carried out so far, which makes the topic relevant. Besides, Bulgaria, respectively, Bulgarian business enterprises still take part in the largest global research dedicated to non-financial reporting. It is being carried out by KPMG consultancy and encompasses Bulgaria's neighboring countries Romania, Greece and Turkey. This fact additionally underlies the necessity of the realization of such research and respectively its relevance. The empirical research which we have carried out is entirely based on public information accessible on the enterprises' websites, media data, content analysis of the annual reports on the activity of the enterprises as well as information from the three largest online directories containing reports on sustainable development. The main conclusion of the research is that the announcement of non-financial information by the most liquid enterprises that trade on the Bulgarian stock exchange is mainly due to the publishing of a non-financial statement which according to Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Commission is mandatory for most of them. The problem with the studied enterprises, however, is related not so closely to the degree of diffusion, but to the quality of non-financial reporting.