Audit quality, corporate governance, firm characteristics and CSR disclosures—Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Big 4 auditors, corporate governance and firm characteristics on CSR disclosure in large listed firms in Indonesia adopting the stakeholder theory. The financial and corporate governance data are collected via the Indonesian Stock Exchange for the top 80 firms from 2016 to 2020 while data for CSR disclosures are hand collected from the annual report/sustainability report using the latest Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2020 index based on the environmental and social categories. The results suggest that reputable firms, diligent boards and firms audited by Big 4 auditors have a positive and statistically significant relationship with CSR disclosures. The study also find that firms with diligent board audited by Big 4 auditors are positively associated with CSR disclosures. This is the first study that utilises the latest GRI Index (2020) assessing the social and environmental disclosures in large listed firms in Indonesia over a longitudinal period.