Annual reports as a form of communication: An analysis with a focus on corporate social responsibility

One of the main ways to be successful in human relations is to be able to communicate effectively with other people. Communication is not only about talking and sharing information, but also about interpreting and interpreting perceptions, persuasion skills and image management. Public relations (PR) is the process of establishing, strengthening and maintaining these channels of communication between companies and society. Through PR, companies manage society's reactions to crises, build and protect their reputation. At the same time, they keep internal communication intact while managing difficult situations with sensitivity. In this context, financial public relations, as a sub-branch of public relations, aims to establish effective communication with investors, shareholders and other financial stakeholders. Secure communication with financial stakeholders plays a critical role for companies as much as their trust relationship and reputation with society. Annual reports presented within the scope of investor relations strengthen this two-way communication by addressing both financial performance and social responsibility issues together. The fact that annual reports, especially in Turkey since the 2000s, are not limited to financial data but also address social issues such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates a significant change in companies' communication strategies with their stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) encompasses the activities that a company undertakes not only for economic interests but also to increase social welfare and contribute to environmental sustainability. CSR practices help companies maintain their presence in society and strengthen their relations with society. In this context, annual reports are a critical tool for both financial public relations and general public relations. At the same time, these reports, investor relations and CSR practices allow companies to gain the trust of both society and their stakeholders. In this study, which examines annual reports in Turkey since the 2000s, the topics included in the corporate social responsibility practices of six companies that have received awards in the Financial Communication-Investor Relations category since the 1st Golden Compass Awards of the Public Relations Society of Turkey were categorized and identified as keywords. In order to make sense of the concept of corporate social responsibility in annual reports, document analysis method was preferred. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that significant changes were observed in the content of the reports, especially after the adoption of sustainability principles, and the frequency of use of the keywords categorized in the report accompanied this change.