RSE, gouvernance d’entreprise et choix d’endettement

Abstract

A first level of governance is accountability and transparency. The delivery of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) information is a key mechanism to gauge the impact of the firm’s decisions in these dimensions. However, the disclosure of ESG information may be opportunistic or biased. This is why a further step is to implement mechanisms of responsibility when the firm causes ESG damages. The legal definition of ESG responsibility is very complex and uneasy to define. A parallel way to implement third parties interest in the firm’s decisions are internal governance mechanisms. We show it by analyzing the creditors’ behavior. The agency relationship with creditors may be balanced with transfer of value to and from the controlling shareholders. At the end we recall the disciplinary role of debt is heavily conditioned by the macroeconomic and tax contexts.