Search results

One of the major sources of information for investors and other stakeholders on success in doing business is corporate reporting presented by the companies themselves. Such a reporting significantly facilitates a dialogue between western stakeholders and companies which plan to enter world markets. It enables increasing not only the value of the business a company runs, but also the sales volume as well. A corporate report reveals information on the priorities and values of the company in the sphere of sustainable development and provides data on the results of its impact on the economic, social, and ecological sphere. A company publishing such a report can claim to be ready to develop a dialogue with society and aims toward accommodating stakeholders’ interests (of a state, clients, employees, shareholders, and investors) in the framework of social partnership.

Introduction: In the context of globalisation processes, the necessity to create appropriate information support for management decisions at various levels becomes increasingly important: at the international, national and enterprise levels. The source of such data is financial reporting. The last leads to increase attention from key users (investors, lenders, other users) to the reliability and quality of financial reporting data. The study of scientific literature and best foreign practices made it possible to identify problems of the theoretical, organisational and methodological background of preparing high-quality financial statements and their assessment, particularly the lack of a unified interpretation of the financial reporting quality concept. The necessity to identify a theoretical basis for assessing financial reporting quality has led to the relevance of this study.

Aim: Scientific substantiation and improvement of theoretical provisions of methodology development for financial reporting quality assessment.

Methods used within the study are the following: Analysis, synthesis, operational approach, bibliographic analysis, generalisation.

Findings: The application of an operational approach to the formulation of the definition of financial reporting quality has made it possible to create the basis for its assessment. This approach involves descriptions of the principles of clarity and uniformity. The authors define the concept of ‘financial reporting quality’, formulating the theoretical principles for financial reporting assessment as the process of establishing compliance of financial statements with a specific list of qualitative characteristics.

This chapter reviews the context of sustainability reporting law and regulations worldwide. Based on the discussion, a conceptual framework has been developed to investigate the moderating role of sustainability reporting law (SRL) on the relationship between sustainability reporting and firm's performance. The findings reveal that the inclusion of SRL as a moderating variable positively affects the relationships between the E, S and G components and operational performance.

At a congress of the European Accounting Association, held more than 20 years ago, the President of the Belgian Institute of Registered Auditors, Paul Behets (1998), delivered a plenary speech with the title: Are Financial Statements an Obsolete Product? Behets’ answer was “no,” that financial statements are an essential component of the financial reporting system that is necessary for the proper functioning of capital markets. In this chapter, we reach a similar conclusion, but for somewhat different reasons. A central argument of this chapter is that an effective system of corporate governance requires an effective financial reporting system, and that an effective financial reporting system requires a well-ordered system of financial accounting. Behet’s speech provides evidence that financial reporting, and the role of traditional audited financial statements within financial reporting, have undergone a period of change. The future of financial reporting is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty, but it is likely to be a future marked by change. One possible path for change was suggested by Elliot (1994), who indicated that the accepted model of financial reporting might be replaced by electronic information systems providing financial and other forms of information about companies, not necessarily in the form of audited financial statements, which would be widely available via the Internet. Under this scenario, a decision-maker could decide on the types of information that were important to them, and then arrange the information in the ways they see fit. Financial reports in their present form (i.e., audited financial statements) might become obsolete as users decide individually on the types of information that are important to them. If this scenario came to pass, the question arises whether there would be a continuing need for financial reports as presently constituted. It is the argument of this chapter that, even if it is technologically feasible for financial reports to be changed from their present form, there would still be a need for financial reports as an important component of corporate governance.

This study explores the extent of environmental management and reporting regulations in Nigeria, highlighting areas of inadequacies in regulatory enforcement and companies’ compliance. We approach the review within the context of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA).

This chapter is based on a systematic review of extant environmental regulations and academic literature.

The results show several inadequacies with respect to Nigeria’s environmental management and reporting regulations. We specifically note the changing environmental management and reporting landscape in Nigeria birthing several emerging mandatory reporting codes. We find that fragmented reporting regulations and inappropriate sanctions are responsible for the unsatisfactory compliance and disclosure level noted among firms in the country. Additionally, weak enforcement, funding limitations, unrealistic financial penalties, and general implementation deficits remain factors impeding effective environmental management practice in Nigeria.

This research provides insight into environmental management and reporting inadequacies in Nigeria, and the actions regulators and firm managers need to take on board to help the country actualize the UN 2030 SDA.

Companies are often accused of using sustainability disclosures as public relations tools to manage financial and non-financial stakeholders' impressions. The purpose of our study was firstly to determine how comprehensive the human rights disclosures of a sample of large international companies were and secondly, whether different narrative styles are associated with levels of disclosure to manage readers' impressions about the company. We analysed the public human rights disclosures for 154 large, international companies obtained from the UN Guiding Principles Reporting website. On average, companies complied with only one-third of the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework criteria. Communication about policies has the highest compliance, whilst communication about determining which human rights aspects are salient to the company, remedies for transgressions and stakeholder engagement have the lowest disclosure. When we split the sample between high disclosure and low disclosure companies, we found that the readability of the human rights disclosures is exceptionally low and even more so for low disclosure companies. Low disclosure companies used words implying Satisfaction significantly more than high disclosure companies, which provides some support for suspecting that low disclosure companies practise impression management by only presenting a ‘rosy picture’, as well as obfuscation via low readability. We add to the literature on impression management by large corporations in their sustainability reporting, and specifically human rights disclosures, by revealing how the interplay of low disclosure, low readability and overuse of words signalling Satisfaction contributes to impression management, rather than sincere attempts at accountability to all stakeholders.

The primary objective of this research is to conceptualize the integration of enterprise risk management (ERM) as a mechanism to enhance the connection between corporate sustainability (CS) reporting and financial performance. This study suggests that future researchers should validate the proposed conceptualization by conducting a comprehensive content analysis of sustainability reports of Malaysian oil and gas companies. This analysis will allow for the collection of pertinent data regarding CS reporting and ERM implementation. The present study takes a comprehensive approach by integrating legitimacy, stakeholder, and resource-based view (RBV) theories, proposing a robust conceptual design that emphasizes the role of ERM in the connection between CS reporting and firm performance. Drawing on theoretical foundations, this study proposes that CS reporting will have a direct effect on financial performance. Moreover, the integration of ERM serves to strengthen the nexus between CS reporting and financial performance. This study offers valuable insights for stakeholders in the oil and gas sector by providing strategic guidance to enhance financial performance not only through CS reporting but also by implementing ERM. Moreover, the framework proposed in this study is expected to bring tangible and intangible benefits to corporations, including reducing information asymmetry, improving the quality of disclosure, and creating value within the field of CS. The proposed conceptual framework holds great significance as it enhances the applicability of legitimacy, stakeholder, and RBV theories, while also creating value for stakeholders through CS reporting and the adoption of risk management practices to enhance financial performance.

Over the past few decades, the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) has become one of the most controversial and politicized divisions of the Department of Labor. Republic and Democratic Administrations have adopted starkly different practices concerning both the allocation of resources and the focus of regulatory activities at the division. These differences have been brought into sharp focus during the Bush II and Obama Administrations. Under the Bush Administration, funding for OLMS increased significantly, and the DOL revised union financial reporting requirements, imposing a more onerous burden on unions in the name of promoting transparency and accountability. Section 1 of this paper provides a summary and analysis of the most significant changes and innovations at the OLMS under the Obama Administration. Section 2 of the paper provides a detailed summary of the Bush era reforms and their fate under the Obama OLMS, and an analysis of the impact of these reforms in the area of increasing union transparency and accountability. It argues that the Bush reforms did little or nothing to achieve greater accountability and may instead have been motivated largely by a desire to impose a more onerous administrative burden on reporting unions.

The authors have examined the developments in law and in practice concerning integrated reporting. An integrated report combines the most material elements of information about corporate performance (re: financial, governance, social and environmental functioning) – currently reported in separate reports – into one coherent whole. The authors first explore the motivation of companies and legislators to introduce integrating reporting. Next, they analyse how integrated reporting can be supported by legislation thereby taking into account the existing regulatory environment.

Literature study; desk research, analysing integrated reports; organisation of an international academic conference (30 May 2012 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands).

EU law needs adjusting in the field of corporate annual reporting. Although integrated reporting is currently being explored by some frontrunners of the business community and is being encouraged by investors, the existing legal framework does not offer any incentive, nor is uniformity and credibility in the reporting of non-financial information stimulated. The law gives scant guidance to companies to that end. The authors argue that amending the mandatory EU framework can support the comparability and reliability of the corporate information. Moreover, a clear and sound EU framework on integrated corporate reporting will assist international companies in their reporting. Presently, companies have to comply with various regulations at an EU and a national level, which do not enhance a holistic view in corporate reporting. The authors provide options on how to do this. They suggest combining EU mandatory corporate reporting rules with the private regulatory reporting regime developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Focus on EU and Dutch corporate reporting laws, non-legislative frameworks, and corporate practices of frontrunners.

The chapter can provide guidance to policymakers, companies and other stakeholders who want to form an opinion on how to legally support integrated reporting. It addresses important questions, especially concerning how European and domestic legislation could be adjusted in order to (i) reflect the newest insights regarding corporate transparency and (ii) become an adequate framework for companies with added benefits for financiers and investors. Moreover, it reports on the benefits of integrated reporting for reporting companies. The authors argue that integrated reporting can be a critical tool in implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the main corporate strategy of a company.