Costs and Benefits of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from the US

This paper investigates the influences of CSR disclosure on firm's agency cost and performance using agency theory perspective. Analysing the sample of 437 US large firms from 2010 to 2011 with the two-stage least square instrument variable estimation approach, we found that CSR disclosure does not statistically associate with agency cost which was measured by the asset utilisation ratio. CSR disclosure significantly improves firm financial performance in term of both return on asset and return on equity ratio but it does not affect sale performance which is measured by revenue growth. The study results indicate that CSR communication could be an effective tool for efficiency improvement in upstream supply chain activities and thereby enhance firm financial performance but not a fruitful tool for such downstream activities as marketing and sale. The study offers an insight that CSR should be seen as an investment rather than a cost to the firm.