"ESG disclosure and corporate financial performance
Description
This dataset accompanies the paper "Does ESG Disclosure Improve Corporate Financial Performance? Evidence from Listed Companies in Bangladesh: An Exploratory Analysis." It contains a cross-sectional sample of ESG disclosure scores and financial performance data (ROA, ROE, Tobin's Q) for six non-financial companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE): British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Square Pharmaceuticals, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Marico Bangladesh, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals (most recent fiscal year, 2024 or 2025, per firm), plus a five-year financial panel (FY2021–FY2025) for a seventh firm, Renata Limited, which has no ESG score. ESG disclosure was scored against a fixed 20-item checklist (Appendix A: 7 environmental, 7 social, and 6 governance items), with one firm (BATBC) coded directly and page-cited from its primary-source annual report, and the remaining five coded from secondhand summaries of company reports (flagged as lower confidence). The dataset also includes descriptive statistics, a Pearson correlation matrix, pooled OLS regression results, and a robustness check comparing this study's ESG scores against independently reported Bloomberg terminal ESG scores. The dataset is provided with full transparency about its data-verification process, including a record of ESG figures that were submitted during data collection but rejected as inflated, unsourced, or internally inconsistent before entering the final dataset. Given the small sample size (N=6), the data and associated findings are exploratory and not intended to be generalizable; see the accompanying paper's Limitations section for full detail.