Indicators of efficiency of the Russian business activity

Abstract

Today, business representatives in Russia face difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of corporate social activities. Public non-financial reporting is usually too voluminous and difficult to understand. To simplify the assessment process, the article suggests a system of basic indicators of the effectiveness of social business activities. Indicators from well-known social reporting systems were selected and revised, and a number of new quantitative and qualitative indicators were proposed, which were most briefly and understandably for the entire spectrum of stakeholders to illustrate the business performance in the sphere of corporate social responsibility. International accounting standards offer a wide range of indicators, which, although effective, are not sufficient for a full evaluation of the social performance of a business for society, and their excessive number makes it difficult to ‘read' these indicators for all stakeholders. In addition to evaluating economic, social and environmental performance, the system of indicators is focused on solving one of the main reasons for the lagging development of corporate social responsibility in Russia: insufficient attention of mass media and the public to social initiatives of business. The author states: external stakeholders are not inclined to trust the value judgements presented in corporate information materials. Therefore, business needs to form additional information materials on corporate social responsibility in order to promote its social activities.