Since the early 1990’s the number of corporate stand-alone reports produced by various organisations worldwide has increased considerably (Kolk, 2004; Owen, 2006). It is argued that introducing an assurance statement with the stand-alone report may contribute to enhancing the credibility of the reported information (FEE, 2002; Dando and Swift, 2003; ACCA and AccountAbility, 2004). This thesis reports on a multi-level analysis of assurance statements attached to stand-alone reports that were produced by the UK FTSE100 companies during the reporting years 2000-2004. Drawing on a research instrument (which itself has been informed by previous literature, namely O’Dwyer and Owen, 2005) as well as the most recent assurance guidelines and standards (such as FEE, 2002; GRI, 2002, AA1000AS, 2003; and ISAE3000, 2004), this thesis examines the extent to which assurance statements disclose information about crucial elements of the assurance engagement, the amount of disclosure as well as factors associated with the information disclosed. In this context, particular attention is given to issues of independence of the assurance provider; the methodology used to conduct the assurance engagement; the degree to which stakeholders have been engaged and their issues taken account of within the assurance process; and assurance results (namely presentation of the assurance opinion, findings and recommendations). The research results suggest that, despite the increased amount and quality of information disclosed within the assurance statements over the years, engagement of stakeholders and taking adequate account of their issues within the assurance process is still lacking compared to other dimensions of assurance. In the absence of generally accepted stand-alone reporting criteria and assurance standards for this type of reporting, various assurance approaches have emerged and these correspond to the nature of the assurance provider (for example, accountancy, consultancy and certification body). The FTSE100 companies (in almost in two-thirds of the conducted engagements) rely most heavily on consultancy firms for assurance and as a result, this approach dominates UK assurance practice. As a consequence, there are noticeable variations in the assurance methodologies, results of the assurance engagements (findings, opinions and recommendations) and shape of the assurance statements over the study. There are also changes that emerge over time and these are most strongly associated with the standards that are used to govern the assurance engagement and also the type of information being assured. These findings raise concerns about whether it is possible to harmonise assurance practice of the corporate stand-alone reports. This thesis concludes with some practical implications for the assurance of stand-alone reports, as well as recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this study was to develop an environmental reporting framework for the Tanzanian industrial sector. To achieve the purpose, the study started by developing a disclosure index, which was used to measure the current extent of environmental reporting in Tanzania. There were two phases in the process of developing the environmental disclosure index (EDI) for the Tanzanian industrial sector. The first phase involved identifying and refining the items for disclosure from the literature. In particular the studies on environmental reporting/disclosure were reviewed and the items to be included in the initial disclosure index were identified. The second phase involved the development of the final disclosure index using the Delphi inquiry method. In the Delphi inquiry, knowledgeable experts in environmental issues were consulted and asked for their opinion on the items proposed, whether the item should be retained, removed or any addition of new item. Therefore, the role of the experts was, first to confirm and validate items to be included in the EDI, and second, to assess the importance of the disclosure of each item by allocating weight to every item. The extent of environmental reporting in Tanzania was measured by using the EDI developed. The annual and environmental reports from various organisations operating in Tanzania were requested and read to determine the current extent of environmental reporting. The results indicated that the information reported by organisations operating in Tanzania mostly came from the categories ‘Organisational context’ and ‘Management performance, policies and systems. The information from ‘environmental performance’ category was left unreported. After the current extent of environmental reporting has been explored, the environmental reporting framework (ERF) was developed. The framework intended to provide guidance on environmental reporting to organisations (from the industrial sector) of any size operating in the country. In particular the framework provided the guidance on four steps to be followed when preparing environmental reports and the content to be included in the reports. After the ERF was developed, it was tested to investigate its applicability using two case studies. The results indicated that the steps to be followed when preparing environmental reports were valid and implementable. / College of Accounting Sciences / D. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce University of the Witwatersrand, October 2017 / Biodiversity is a serious concern for companies using natural resources in their operations and should be examined closely in order to assess how these companies are reporting their biodiversity related impacts. This thesis evaluates the biodiversity disclosures reported by companies in the South African fishing industry. The integrated and sustainability reports of these companies were examined over a three year period for the quantity and quality of their biodiversity related disclosures. This involved the examination of the extent, location, and quality of such disclosures by South African fishing companies. The thesis finds that there is a distinct lack of biodiversity-related disclosures in the South African fishing industry. This thesis highlights the operation of organised hypocrisy in an industry which relies on the availability of natural resources and the state of biodiversity in order to continue its operations. It was found that a possible reason for limited biodiversity disclosures by South African fishing companies was to avoid public scrutiny of their biodiversity impact. The thesis contributes to the evaluation of a country, and more specifically an industry, that is heavily reliant on the state of biodiversity. / GR2018

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management, 2004. / Bibliography: p. 210-272. / "December 2003". / Overview -- Literature review of intellectual capital reporting with a human capital focus -- Forces shaping intellectual capital reporting in Sri Lanka -- Reseach method -- Political economy of accounting reporting theory -- Hypothesis development and data interpretation -- Results of hypothesis testing --Interpretation of results -- Conclusions. / This study examines and explains the intellectual capital reporting (ICR) practices, with a human capital (HumC) focus, of firms located in a developing nation, Sri Lanka. The study ascertained the following: first, to what extent the industry groups, based on the number of shareholders, differ in their ICR practices; and second, to what extent firms in Sri Lanka differfrom counterparts in other nations in their ICR practices. -- The literature reviewed highlighted the voluntary nature and unregulated nvironment of ICR. It also underlined the inability of traditional accounting to recognise IC within its financial statements. This has lead to a plethora of non-uniform definitions of intellectual capital (IC) and ICR, and a wide range of theoretical frameworks available for IC. -- This thesis examined the top 30 firms by market capitalisation listed on the Colombo stock exchange in both 1998/1999 and 1999/2000. It reviewed their annual reports using content analysis to analyse the type and amount ofIC reported, and carried out 11 case study interviews with directors and senior executives to analyse the type and amount of IC managed within the firms. Using this data, this study tested the political economy of accounting (PEA) theory. The study collapsed the firms into four industry groups based on the number of areholders; this was done on the basis that the number of shareholders of a firm influences their ICR practice. -- The results indicate that, overall, there were distinct differences in ICR practice between industry groups. The industry groups were found to report similarly in relation to IC category. However, in relation to IC elements the industry groups were found to report differently, with some industry groups over reporting on certain elements which were not well managed and vice versa. The differences in ICR practices indicate that industry groups use ICR to mediate the agenda of debate between them and their economic, social and political constituents to maximise their capital reproduction. The study also indicates that differences exist in ICR practices between firms located in Sri Lanka and firms in other nations in relation to both IC categories and IC elements. These differences are attributed to the unique economic, social and political context of each country. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xvii, 383 p., ill

The main purpose of this study is to examine the need to modify the theory of accounting to ensure a standardised and comparable approach when accounting and reporting on intellectual capital. A literature review is used to describe intellectual capital categories and how to measure, recognise and report these assets in the financial statements on an entity. Financial reporting operates around strict requirements that are statement of financial position biased posing significant challenges in recognising and disclosing intellectual capital. The study also uses content analysis of corporate annual reports of the top 40 companies listed on the JSE Ltd in 2009 to determine the extent of intellectual capital reporting by these companies. Measuring and recognising intellectual capital in financial reporting is not limited by the requirements in respect of statutory disclosures, discretionary and contextual disclosures are recommended. Results of the content analysis show that companies use these discretionary and contextual disclosures to communicate information on intellectual capital. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

The objectives of this research were to: (1) augment existing research regarding the impact of information retention resulting from the application of redundant color codes; and (2) determine whether the application of color in hard-copy documents has a positive influence in business reports by non-color deficient subjects. This research was an extension of work done by Lamberski and Dwyer (1983) and Moore and Dwyer (1991). Both studies were hard copy based and focused on the impact of information retention resulting from the application of redundant color codes.

Li Xue. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-38). / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Public entities are faced with the problem of increasing the interest of stakeholders in their annual reports. The aim of this study was to identify the stakeholders of AISA who use the annual report, to investigate their perceptions of the AISA annual report and to determine whether it is used for decision making or accountability purposes. Data was collected by using questionnaires sent to a representative sample of the stakeholders and minutes of meetings and audio recordings of the interrogation of the annual report by the parliamentary accountability and oversight body over DST. The study found that the AISA stakeholders use the annual report for accountability purposes and not for decision making and it has a small readership as it is read mainly by internal stakeholders. The study recommends that public entities need to do much to inform the stakeholders of the availability of their annual reports. / Business Management / M. Com. (Accounting)

Public entities are faced with the problem of increasing the interest of stakeholders in their annual reports. The aim of this study was to identify the stakeholders of AISA who use the annual report, to investigate their perceptions of the AISA annual report and to determine whether it is used for decision making or accountability purposes. Data was collected by using questionnaires sent to a representative sample of the stakeholders and minutes of meetings and audio recordings of the interrogation of the annual report by the parliamentary accountability and oversight body over DST. The study found that the AISA stakeholders use the annual report for accountability purposes and not for decision making and it has a small readership as it is read mainly by internal stakeholders. The study recommends that public entities need to do much to inform the stakeholders of the availability of their annual reports. / Business Management / M. Com. (Accounting)

Thesis (M. Com. (Accountancy)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / This research evaluated the role of external pressure on the sustainability of South African banks. Although much research on corporate sustainability disclosure has been done, this research is important since little of the previous research in South African has given a closer examination to sustainability external pressure implication of external pressure on banking sector sustainability disclosure. In addition, this research separated banks’ sustainability disclosure into social and environmental aspects to know which aspect in the banks are more influenced by external pressure. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to examine the relationship between external pressures on social disclosure and to examine the role of external pressure on environmental disclosure in select South African banks. Although the entire commercial banks in South African made up the population of study, the sample was reduced by the availability of external pressure variables (government pressure, political pressure, social pressure, regulatory pressure, customer pressure, and two control variables – reputation and profit objectives) in the sustainability reports within the six years of study (2010 – 2015). Research data were collected from secondary data which were available from the annual integrated reports of banks. Data were analysed by means of the panel data multiple regression analysis. The analysis of data on research question 1 showed that three independent variables (Government pressure, profit objective and customer pressure) showed a significant positive relationship with social disclosure. Government pressure showed a significant relationship at a value of P=0.006 which is less than the 0.05 alpha level set for this research. This therefore means that within the sample of banks where data were collected, government pressure have a significant positive relationship with social disclosure in these banks. Also, the analysis showed that profit objective and customer pressure are positively and significantly related to social disclosure at a value of P=0.05 which is equal to the alpha of this research. This also means that within the sample of banks where data vi were collected, profit objective and customer pressure have a significant positive relationship with social disclosure in these banks. On the contrary, four out of the seven independent variables (regulatory pressure, political pressure, social pressure and reputation) showed no significant relationship. The second research question in this study was to find whether a relationship exists between external pressure and environmental disclosure. However, all the independent variables showed a non-significant relationship with environmental disclosure. In conclusion, the research made some recommendations which include that future researchers should expand the number of banks by including other financial institutions, the comparison of sustainability disclosure in banks before and after the King III report, more improved teaching and research on banking sector sustainability disclosure in higher institutions, communication of research result such as on banking industry sustainability to practitioners and to government agencies. Other recommendations include the need to conduct a regional study to include other African countries on banking sector sustainability and to conduct a survey study on external pressure on banking sector environmental activity and disclosure