From Open Sustainability
Sustainability reporting is the reporting of an organizations non-finanical performance in the marketplace, workplace, environment and community. These reports attempt to portray are more wholistic view of how an organization is performaing, aiming for a balance in all areas to be sustainable. These type of reports can also be called Coporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Responsbility or Corporate Citizenship. Reporting types have evolved over the years. In the early ninities the more common report types were Environment and Environment, Health and Safety. There has been an evolution in reporting to now include multiple issues within reports, such as Corporate Social Responsbility and Sustainability reports. There is also a trend to integrate the non-financial information fully within the annual financial report. [1]
Reporting Standards
Sustainability reporting is for the majority of countries a voluntary initiative. This results in a wide range in quality of reports. The Global Reporting Initiative was set up in the late nineties as a disclosure framework for reports. This standard has become the de facto standard for sustainability and CSR reports. The GRI recognized that reporting organizations are not all at the same level with reporting, some more advanced than others. In response to this they developed the application levels, which range from a C for organizations just starting out with reporting to the more advanced reports with an A+.[2] While the number of reports prepared in accordance with the GRI Guidelines is growing, about a third of the reports in 2008 followed the guidelines.[3]
Report Assurance
With the increase in proliferation of CSR reports, stakeholders were after some assurances that these voluntary reports were accurate. The response has been a number of standards have been developed in which the reports are audited by a third party.[4] Another way that organizations have sought to verify their reports in through a commentary on the report by a respectable independent group. An example of this is the review conducted by the UK NGO Forum for the Future, for Marks and Spencer (Page 43). [5]
Assurance Standards
- SA8000 Global social accountability standard for decent working conditions
- ISAE 3000 International Standard on Assurance Engagements
- AA1000AS AccountAbility Assurance Standard
Report Style
With the change in reporting types there has also been a change in how the information is reported. When interest in these types of reports grew so did the demands for additional information to be reported. This resulted in larger more detailed reports, which were harder to navigate and more costly to produce. This resulted in an increase in online reports and integration within the annual financial report, cutting down on costs and environmental impacts. To cut costs even further in difficult times some organizations are now preparing just summary reports or reporting bi-annually to cut costs.
Some examples of reporting styles is the 3M report, which is available only online with a printed summary.
Novo nordisk prepared an integrated Sustainability/Annual Report in 2007.
A more traditional Sustainability Report is the Baxter 2008 Sustainability Report. Baxter roduced a printed version of the report accompanied by an online report website.
References
- ↑ http://www.corporateregister.com/pdf/CRRA08.pdf
- ↑ http://www.globalreporting.org/GRIReports/ApplicationLevels/
- ↑ http://www.corporateregister.com/pdf/CRRA08.pdf
- ↑ http://www.corporateregister.com/pdf/AssureView.pdf
- ↑ http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/file.axd?pointerid=f3ccae91d1d348ff8f523ab8afe9d8a8&versionid=fbb46819901a428ca70ecf5a44aa8ddc
