Najah A. and Jarboui A. EXTRA-FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE AND THE COST OF DEBT OF BIG FRENCH COMPANIES 57 Business Excellence and Management Volume 3 Issue 4 / December 2013 EXTRA-FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE AND THE COST OF DEBT OF BIG FRENCH COMPANIES Ahlem NAJAH University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia ahlem.najah@gmail.com Anis JARBOUI University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia anisjarboui@yahoo.fr Abstract The literature shows that there is a lack of studies concerning the relationship between corporate social responsibility and cost of debt in the French context. To participate in filling this gap, we present this work seeking to investigate the relationship between non-financial disclosure and the cost of debt of 202 big French companies from 2000 to 2010. Results of the empirical study show that there is no explicit relation between the social reporting and the cost of debt but when adding size and age as control variables, this relation tends to be negative. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, Extra-financial divulgation, Cost of debt. 1. INTRODUCTION Disclosure policy of timely reliable information reduces the apprehension of bankruptcy risk of the company by lenders and thus restricts its cost of debt. Greater disclosure draws attention to the existence of a business and expands its investor base, which enhances the sharing of risks and reduces the cost of capital (Merton, 1987). Reducing the cost of acquiring information for investors and their expectations becoming more homogeneous can also reduce the cost of capital. A number of studies agree that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is negatively related to the cost of capital; while others show that CSR affects positively the cost of capital. A third result shows neutrality or non-existence of a real relationship between CSR and cost required by lenders to socially responsible companies. We can explain this result by the disinterest of the donors to this strategic component they consider negligible in the rating system and thus to extend credit and to determine the debt ratio.