No. 122: Benchmarking Country-by-Country Reports

Jahr: 2023
Typ: Working Paper
Open Science:

Abstract

Country-by-Country Reports (CbCRs) have emerged as a unique public source of information to track the country-by-country activities of multinational corporations. However, concerns about double counting and comparability have raised questions about the reliability of these reports for economic analyses. In this paper, we conduct a benchmark analysis focusing on publicly available CbCRs to assess the reliability of CbCR information compared to respective consolidated financial information. Our findings suggest only limited double counting issues. Most CbCR information matches well with the consolidated information, with only a few exceptions. Nonetheless, we document differences in the definition of variables and in the scope of the reports that may complicate comparisons across multinational corporations. We subsequently discuss the implications of our findings for the use of CbCRs as a source of information in economic analyses. In addition, we provide recommendations for improving the reliability and comparability of CbCR information.

Beteiligte Institutionen

Die Hauptstandorte vom TRR 266 sind die Universität Paderborn (Sprecherhochschule), die HU Berlin und die Universität Mannheim. Alle drei Standorte sind seit vielen Jahren Zentren für Rechnungswesen- und Steuerforschung. Hinzu kommen Wissenschaftler der LMU München, der Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, der Universität zu Köln und der Leibniz Universität Hannover, die die gleiche Forschungsagenda verfolgen.