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An Absence of Transparency: The Charitable and Political Contributions of US Corporations

Author

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  • S. Douglas Beets

    (Wake Forest University)

  • Mary G. Beets

    (Clark Enterprises, Inc.)

Abstract

Although stockholders may benefit from information regarding the frequently substantial charitable and political contributions of the corporations they own, US corporations are typically not required to disclose any information about such payments in annual financial statements or information submitted periodically to regulatory agencies. This lack of transparency is confounded by disclosure requirements of private foundations, which a corporation may choose to establish for the purposes of administering charitable giving for the corporation. The resulting disclosure fog engendered by extant regulations may be confusing to those corporation owners who would like to know what corporation contributions are being made to charities and politicians. This article enumerates the magnitude of the charitable and political gifts of 40 of the most generous public corporations in the USA, the current disclosure requirements for public companies, the role of foundations, rationales for withholding relevant information from owners, and ethically questionable strategies that corporations may use to manage those disclosures for their benefit.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Douglas Beets & Mary G. Beets, 2019. "An Absence of Transparency: The Charitable and Political Contributions of US Corporations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 1101-1113, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:155:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3537-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3537-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Agoraki, Maria-Eleni K. & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Kouretas, Georgios P., 2022. "U.S. banks’ IPOs and political money contributions," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Mazouz, Khelifa & Wood, Geoffrey, 2021. "The consequences of political donations for IPO premium and performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Lin, Ming-Tsung, 2022. "Do shareholder views affect corporate political activities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Heli Wang & Ming Jia & Zhe Zhang, 2021. "Good Deeds Done in Silence: Stakeholder Management and Quiet Giving by Chinese Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 649-674, May.
    5. Felix Septianto & Joya A. Kemper & Fandy Tjiptono & Widya Paramita, 2021. "The Role of Authentic (vs. Hubristic) Pride in Leveraging the Effectiveness of Cost Transparency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 423-439, November.
    6. Lei Xu & Xiaoning Guo & Yan Liu & Xiaochen Sun & Jie Ji, 2022. "How Does Corporate Charitable Giving Affect Enterprise Innovation? A Literature Review and Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.

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