Challenges in Sustainability and Integrated Reporting

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lies Bouten ◽  
Sophie Hoozée
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Master's Level ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Accounting Courses ◽  
Corporate Social

ABSTRACT Students are introduced to the concepts of sustainability reporting and the latest trend, integrated reporting, by playing the role of an active jury member on the judging panel for the Best Belgian Sustainability Report Award. Through the reporting practices of Telenet, a Belgian telecommunication company, the case demonstrates the pivotal role of materiality and completeness in assessing the quality of sustainability reporting. Moreover, by revealing that an integrated strategy is crucial in the development of an integrated report and by demonstrating the importance of connecting financial and sustainability-related performance indicators, the case exposes students to the challenges that companies may face in developing their integrated reporting. The case also encourages students to critically reflect on the motivations behind sustainability reporting. In addition, through the active process of analyzing the disclosed information, students learn to formulate hands-on recommendations for improvement. This master's-level case is appropriate for either general financial reporting courses that incorporate contemporary reporting trends or more specific accounting courses on corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, accountability, or ethics.

scholarly journals Corporate Social Responsibility, Audit Committee Expertise, and Financial Reporting: Empirical Evidence from Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10517
Author(s):  
Haeyoung Ryu ◽  
Soo-Joon Chae ◽  
Bomi Song
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Audit Committees ◽  
Accounting Expertise ◽  
Corporate Social

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves multiple activities and is influenced by the cultural and legal environment of the country in which a firm is located. This study examines the role of audit committees’ (AC) financial expertise in the relationship between CSR and the earnings quality of Korean firms with high levels of CSR. Using a multivariate analysis, it investigates whether the ACs that include members with accounting expertise, finance expertise, or supervisory expertise individually affect a firm’s decision making. It also examines how ACs with diverse expertise contribute toward improving the financial reporting quality of firms with high levels of CSR. The results demonstrate that when there is a certified accountant in the AC of a firm that practices CSR based on ethical motivation, the earnings management through discretionary accruals is more strictly controlled. This is more effective when the AC comprises members with accounting and non-accounting expertise. This finding implies that the AC plays a positive role in improving the accounting information quality of firms with CSR excellence. Moreover, while the role of accounting experts in the AC is important for maintaining high earnings quality, combining other types of expertise creates synergy.

Exploring the rationale for integrated report assurance

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1826-1854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Maroun
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
The Status ◽  
Perceived Relevance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine why companies assure some of the information found in their integrated reports, possible changes required to existing assurance practices and the motivation for either seeking to expand current technologies of assurance or to maintain the status quo. Design/methodology/approach The research is exploratory/interpretive. Data are collected from detailed interviews with preparers and assurance experts. Framing theory provides the data analysis framework. Findings Three broad views on assurance are identified. An expectation management perspective focusses on the role of assurance as a legitimisation tool and requires no changes to existing assurance standards. A value-adding perspective emphasises the role of assurance in improving the usefulness of information being reported to stakeholders and its function as part of a broader corporate governance system. This can evolve into a change-potential outlook in terms of which assurance is used to promote positive organisational change, something which may require the development of new standards/guidelines for assuring integrated reports. Research limitations/implications Only preparers and assurance experts are engaged to explore the rationale for seeking to have parts of an integrated report assured. The views of the broader stakeholder community are not taken into account. The study is also limited to a single jurisdiction where integrated reporting practices are relatively well established. Practical implications Assurance of non-financial information cannot be understood only in terms of broad drivers such as firm size, environmental impact or listing status. It is inextricably linked with the perceived relevance of integrated (or sustainability) reporting and the value which assurance provides to an organisation and its stakeholders. Originality/value The study complements the mainly quantitative research on determinants of assurance of environmental or social disclosures. It is one of the few to provide primary evidence on the reasons for having these types of disclosures assured and how this informs the need for changes to existing assurance practices. The paper is also one of the first to deal with the assurance of environmental or social information in an integrated reporting context.

scholarly journals Integrated Reporting Practices in Europe and Value Relevance of Accounting Information under the Framework of IIRC

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Loprevite ◽  
Daniela Rupo ◽  
Bruno Ricca
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Price Level ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Book Value ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Level Model

The research has been conducted on a sample of European companies with the aim to investigate whether the adoption of the Integrated Reporting (IR) affects the value relevance of summary accounting information. The relations between Market Value (MV) and traditional accounting information (Book Value and Earnings) are studied by a linear price-level model, typical of the studies on the value relevance of accounting information. The results of analysis show that the degree of value relevance of Earnings is significantly different for companies that publish an Integrated Report compared to companies adopting traditional financial reporting. The study confirms the assessment made by IIRC and the other advocates: Integrated Reporting is expected to improve the quality of traditional accounting information for providers of financial capital.

scholarly journals Social responsibility reporting standards

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-43
Author(s):  
Ana Rep ◽  
Nikolina Dečman
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Voluntary Standards ◽  
Sustain Ability ◽  
Corporate Social

It is well known that today, in addition to already established financial reporting, multi-national companies are paying more and more attention to non-financial reporting on social, eco-nomic, environmental and governmental issues. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting is still predominantly voluntary, and it is not standardized. However, there are various international organizations which have been developing frameworks and voluntary standards for non-financial reporting. Those organizations have been putting a sizable amount of effort, time, and knowledge in order to offer some specific solutions to interested organizations preparing CSR reports. Pro-posed standards, guidelines, and frameworks serve as tools for simplifying CSR reporting. In that sense, the most important providers of sustainability reporting guidance, such as GRI, OECD, United Nations Global Compact, International Organization for Standardization, certainly stand out. A significant contribution to promoting the importance of sustainability reporting was also made by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) which obliged large public interest companies with over 500 employees to disclose certain non-financial information. According to the analysis of the content and scope of the most important frameworks and standards of sustain-ability reporting, it can be confirmed that they have certainly contributed to improving the quality of non-financial reporting.

From Sustainability to Integrated Reporting: The Legitimizing Role of the CSR Manager

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Argento ◽  
Francesca Culasso ◽  
Elisa Truant
Keyword(s):  
Public Utility ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
Individual Actor ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneur ◽  
Corporate Social

This article aims to explore how an individual actor, embodying the role of the institutional entrepreneur, legitimizes new corporate reporting practices. This study is based on a longitudinal and explanatory case study of an Italian listed public utility, operating in the electricity sector, which has recently implemented Integrated Reporting. Findings were analysed through the lens of institutional entrepreneurship, revealing that Integrated Reporting can be implemented through the legitimizing activities carried out by the corporate social responsibility manager. This organizational professional, with strong competences and intrinsic engagement, efficiently uses available resources and gains support from various organizational groups through intense networking. A substantial change in corporate reporting practices can influence the position of the institutional entrepreneur who originally triggered the change process. The institutional entrepreneur first moves from the periphery to the centre of the organization and then shares such central role with other organizational professionals once the change has been implemented.

scholarly journals Moving from Social and Sustainability Reporting to Integrated Reporting: Exploring the Potential of Italian Public-Funded Universities’ Reports

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3172
Author(s):  
Sara Giovanna Mauro ◽  
Lino Cinquini ◽  
Elena Simonini ◽  
Andrea Tenucci
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Sustainability Reports

Over recent years, the meaning of accountability has evolved and has reshaped what public sector institutions are expected to account for and how. Consequently, a large number of initiatives have emerged promoting non-financial reporting. In this context, public universities have started to experiment with sustainability reporting initiatives, but these efforts are still limited and challenged by the parallel development of multiple forms of reporting, which include integrated reporting (IR). IR has been interpreted as a further step in the reporting journey, suitable for representing the creation of public value and addressing accountability pressures. The current research aims at understanding if and how IR constitutes a feasible next step for improving the reporting practices of public universities. For this purpose, the research carries out a content analysis of social or sustainability reports written by a number of Italian public universities to find out which of the key elements of IR have already been included in such reports. Results show that some of those elements are already included, but often in a fragmented and non-homogeneous way. The findings pave the way for further considerations on how the potential adoption of IR may strengthen the value of social and sustainability reporting by integrating the information reported in different documents, fostering toward a bureaucracy that is more sustainable and providing more opportunities of innovation in reports on public sector organizations’ accountability.

scholarly journals The Institutionalization of the Consistency and Comparability Principle in the European Companies

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viorel Avram ◽  
Daniela Artemisa Calu ◽  
Valentin Florentin Dumitru ◽  
Mădălina Dumitru ◽  
Mariana Elena Glăvan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
International Integrated Reporting Council ◽  
Research Show ◽  
Environmental Performance Indicators

There is a general tendency in reporting nowadays, represented by the institutionalization of the environmental reporting in an increasing number of companies. The novelty of our work resides in the fact that this is the first study which analyses the consistency and comparability of the information included in integrated reports. The objective of this research is to determine to what extent the reporting of the environmental performance indicators, including energy, prescribed by the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines is in line with the consistency and comparability principle. We analysed the reports published by the European organisations included in the Pilot Programme of the International Integrated Reporting Council. We used the following methodology. First, we compared the environmental reporting of 2016 from one company to another, splitting the sample in accordance with the industries. Second, we analysed the reporting practices of the environmentally-sensitive companies, including energy, in 2010, 2013 and 2016, in order to analyse the consistency of the information published. The results of the research show that the environmentally-sensitive companies, including energy, publish more information. Also, the score of information consistency is above average. The best consistency level is registered in the Basic Materials industry, followed by Oil & Gas and Industrials. Emissions and energy indicators are the most disclosed. This research is useful to understand how companies apply the consistency and comparability principle in practice. The importance of this article is given by the fact that consistency and comparability improve the quality of the sustainability reporting. Without consistency and comparability the information’s relevance is very low.

scholarly journals Why “Less is More” in Non-Financial Reporting Initiatives: Concrete Steps Towards Supporting Sustainability

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina Tsagas ◽  
Charlotte Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Key Aspects

AbstractCalls are repeatedly made on corporations to respond to the challenges facing the planet from a sustainable development perspective and governments take solace in the idea that corporations' transparency on their corporate activity in relation to sustainability through voluntary reporting is adequately addressing the problem. In practice, however, reporting is failing to deliver truly sustainable results. The article considers the following questions: how does the varied reporting landscape in the field of non-financial reporting impede the objectives of fostering corporations' sustainable practices and which initiative, among the options available, may best meet the sustainability objectives after a decluttering of the landscape takes place?The article argues that the varied corporate reporting landscape constitutes a key obstacle to fostering sustainable corporate behaviour, insofar as the flexible and please all approach followed in the context of corporate sustainability reporting offers little to no real incentive to companies to behave more sustainably and ultimately pleases none in the long run. The case made is that “less is more” in non-financial reporting initiatives and hence the article calls for a revision of key aspects of the European Non-Financial Reporting Directive, which, as is argued, is more likely to achieve the furtherance of sustainable corporate behaviour. Although the different reporting requirements offer the benefits of focussing on different corporate goals and activities, targeting different audiences and allowing for a level of flexibility that respects the individual risks to sustainability associated with each industry, the end result is a landscape that lacks overall consistency and comparability of measurements and accountabilities, making accountability more, rather than less, difficult to achieve.The article acknowledges the existence of several variances relating to the notion of sustainability per se, which continues to remain a contested concept and variances between companies and industries in relation to how each is operating sustainably or unsustainably respectively. Such variances have so far inhibited the legislator from easily outlining through tailored legislation the individual risks to global sustainability in an all-encompassing manner. The end product is a chaotic system of financial reporting, CSR reporting, non-financial reporting and integrated reporting and little progress to increase comparability and credibility in order for companies to be held accountable and to behave in ways that do not harm the planet. A “clean up” of the varied initiatives in the terrain of non-financial reporting is recommended.

Corporate social responsibility and earnings management in the EU: a panel data analysis approach

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis E. Dimitropoulos
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Eu

Purpose Over the past decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been considered as a significant corporate strategy and also has been documented as a main information dissemination mechanism of corporations to shareholders, creditors and other external stakeholders. This fact makes the CSR activities and CSR performance interconnected with the quality of firms’ financial reporting. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of CSR performance on the earnings management (EM) behaviour using a sample from 24 European Union (EU) countries summing up to 121,154 firm-year observations over the period 2003–2018. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a multi-country data set with various dimensions of CSR performance including indexes regarding workforce, community relations, product responsibility and human rights protection. The empirical analysis is conducted with panel data regressions. Findings Evidence supports the negative association between CSR and EM indicating that high CSR performing firms are associated with less income smoothing and discretionary accruals, thus with higher financial reporting quality. Practical implications Regulatory agencies in the EU could use the findings of the study for the improvement of the accounting framework via enhancing the use and publications of social and environmental responsibility information and reports. Social implications Also, the current paper could be of interest not only to academic researchers but also to potential and existing investors in European corporations. The negative association between CSR performance and EM could be used by investors in assessing the risk of firms and the quality and reliability of their financial information. Originality/value This is the first study within the EU, which considers the multi-facet characteristics of CSR on the quality of accounting earnings and offers useful policy implications for regulators and investors.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document