Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the objectives of corporate reporting is the communication of information on a company's performance to all stakeholders. The traditional financial statements (balance sheet, income statement and the cash flow statement) do not sufficiently meet all of the above requirements. In view of this, the study project acknowledges the need for corporate reporting beyond the traditional conventional financial reports. This therefore necessitated the use of a Value-Added Statement (VAS) as one of the financial statements that is regarded to have the ability to enhance corporate reporting. A VAS is based on an economic concept and, therefore, a contribution of a specific company towards the Gross Domestic Product (GOP) can be directly measured. Although a VAS does not solely disclose all of the information pertaining to the economic performance of business enterprise, it is believed that the statement can assist interested parties in making well-informed economic decisions. However, the publication of a VAS is still not a statutory regulation in South Africa. The findings indicate some limitations in the manner in which a VAS is published. The format is not statutory and is not audited, but there are opportunities for further research and improvement. This aspect has unfortunately led some users to mistrust the statement. For example, it almost always indicates that the labour component takes most of the value added (Hird, 1983). Statistical tests (e.g. Shapiro-Wilk's W Spearman R Test, histograms) have been conducted. These tests show a weak negative relationship between change in number of employees and change in value added by each employee. This suggests that value added per employee is not the only factor that contributes to productivity. There is therefore not enough evidence to conclude that companies that reduce the number of employees improve productivity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die doelwitte van korporatiewe verslaggewing is om inligting oor die prestasie van 'n maatskappy aan alle belangegroepe te kommunikeer. Die tradisionele finansiële state (balansstaat, inkomstestaat en kontantvloeistaat) voldoen nie heeltemal aan bogenoemde vereistes nie. In die lig hiervan erken die studieprojek die behoefte aan korporatiewe verslaggewing bo en behalwe die tradisionele finansiële verslae. Dit het dus die gebruik van die toegevoegdewaardestaat (TWS) genoodsaak as een van die finansiële state wat daartoe kan bydra om korporatiewe verslaggewing te verbeter. 'n TWS is gebaseer op 'n ekonomiese konsep. Daarom kan 'n bydrae van 'n spesifieke maatskappy tot die Bruto Binnelandse Produk (BBP) direk gemeet word. Hoewel 'n toegevoegdewaardestaat nie op sy eie al die inligting oor die ekonomiese prestasie van 'n besigheidsonderneming blootlê nie, kan dit belangstellende partye help om ingeligte ekonomiese besluite te neem. Die publikasie van 'n toegevoegdewaardestaat is egter nog nie 'n statutêre regulasie in Suid-Afrika nie. Die bevindinge dui op 'n aantal beperkinge in die wyse waarop 'n TWS gepubliseer word. Die formaat is nie statutêr nie en word nie geouditeer nie, maar daar is geleenthede vir verdere navorsing en verbetering. Hierdie aspek het ongelukkig daartoe gelei dat sommige gebruikers die staat wantrou. Byvoorbeeld: Die VAS dui feitlik altyd aan dat die arbeidskomponent die meeste van die toegevoegde waarde opneem (Hird, 1983). Statistiese toetse (bv. Shapiro-Wilk se W Spearman R Toets, histogramme) is uitgevoer. Hierdie toetse dui op 'n swak negatiewe verhouding tussen verandering in die aantal werknemers en verandering in die waarde wat deur elke werknemer toegevoeg word. Dit dui daarop dat die waarde wat per werknemer toegevoeg word nie die enigste faktor is wat bydra tot produktiwiteit nie. Daarom lewer dit nie genoegsaam bewys om tot die gevolgtrekking te kom dat maatskappye wat hul aantal werknemers verminder terselfdertyd produktiwiteit verhoog nie.

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of: Masters of Commerce University of the Witwatersrand / In recent years, the call for companies to account for their activities to a wide group of stakeholders has grown. Integrated reporting provides a platform for such stakeholder communication. Recent studies have, however, concluded that integrated reporting is viewed merely as an exercise to be undertaken to ensure compliance. This thesis explores the challenges faced by those charged with the preparation of the integrated report in the South African eco-tourism industry. It adopts a social constructivist ontology and is grounded in an interpretive epistemology. The eco-tourism industry is particularly suited to this study as the notion of sustainability and, more recently, integrated reporting is of great importance in a rapidly growing industry which places significant reliance on natural resources. It is required to deliver economic profits whilst ensuring that the differing needs of a range of stakeholders are met. A theoretical framework of change implementation, based on different mechanisms presented by existing literature, was developed and used in exploring the challenges encountered by a case organisation when preparing its integrated report. A qualitative case study was undertaken in which the role-players in the preparation of the integrated report of the case entity were interviewed, and the minutes of internal meetings and workshops and an external assurance report were reviewed. In this context, this thesis provides further understanding of the challenges faced by organisations in the preparation of an integrated report, providing insight into how preparers are interpreting and applying the guidelines found in the integrated reporting frameworks and codes on corporate governance. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 30 October 2014. / The reporting of non-financial data has steadily increased over the past three decades and there is evidence that including social and environmental indicators in the annual report is correlated with improved environmental performance of listed companies. The annual reports of a selection of 82 JSE-listed companies, including the full JSE Top 40, were analysed for mentions of the natural environment for the reporting periods of 2010 and 2012. The introduction of the King III principles by the JSE occurred between these two periods, providing an opportunity to assess the impacts that this move had on annual reporting. Attention was paid to mentions in the leadership reviews by the Chairmen and the CEOs, presence of empirical environmental data, environmental KPIs and the manner in which these data were presented and discussed in the report. In addition, a survey asking qualitative details of company reporting policy was conducted among the staff members responsible for environmental reporting of these companies. The standard and sophistication of environmental reporting varied widely across the sample, with Top 40 companies generally reporting better than non-Top 40 companies. Primary industries were more likely to provide empirical data than service industries and only agricultural industries appeared concerned with the manner in which changes in the natural environment could affect their business. There remains a wide variation in the type and detail of environmental reporting across the sample with very little evidence that the data, as reported, play a meaningful role in the decisions of either management or investors.

M.A. (Environmental Management) / Implementing corporate sustainability reporting as part of companies’ annual reports is a growing trend in South Africa and throughout the world. The King III code became effective from March 2010 and strongly encourages JSE listed companies to apply triple bottom line reporting, whereby companies integrate their environmental, social and economic practices into their annual reporting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sustainability reporting practices of three selected tourism companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The three tourism companies that were selected for the study were Sun International, City Lodge and Wilderness Holdings. Three evaluation frameworks were developed from 1) the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines (G3.1); 2) the JSE: Social Responsible Investment (SRI) Index criteria; and 3) the South African National Standard for Responsible Tourism (SANS 1162) criteria. The three evaluation frameworks were used as a tool to assess the tourism companies’ annual reports in terms of international, South African and tourism industry-specific criteria. Using these frameworks provided a way of assessing the extent of sustainability reporting within annual reports and allowed for comparison across companies and years. Overall, the study provided an understanding of how the selected companies had been producing their annual reports from 2010 to 2012. The study also provided feedback on the companies’ previous reporting practices in terms of the sustainability criteria and provided information on how these companies can improve their future sustainability reporting.

Thesis (M.Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accounting, 2016. / The mode of reporting performance by firms has shifted radically in recent years from a set of audited annual financial statements, to the inclusion of integrated and sustainability reports. This move has been particularly important for South African listed firms, which are required to prepare integrated reports (and therefore sustainability reports) due to the revision of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listing requirements. Although there are no specific accounting standards at present particularly for sustainability reports, certain reporting frameworks, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, have influenced and become leaders in such reporting. The value relevance of the quality of sustainability reports is the focus of this study. This research report tests whether report quality as measured by the GRI reporting categories is value relevant for JSE listed companies, whether better reporting companies achieve better long term performance over the period 2007 to 2015. Value relevance is measured using a 4 tiered portfolio construction technique, which uses the GRI reporting categories to define comparative investment portfolios. The results indicate that GRI firms with the highest report qualities underperformed significantly when compared to the market, with the exception of the C report firms, which showed some level of outperformance in the later portfolio years. Interestingly, the portfolio of firms using frameworks other than the GRI outperformed all of the categories of GRI framework firms, as well as the market. The results for the GRI category firms therefore contradict some of the previous research on the value relevance of sustainability reporting which used different measurement proxies for quality, while the non GRI reporting firm results find similar conclusions. This research report therefore concludes that the GRI framework implementation is relatively low in a South African context, and that the GRI report categories do not provide a measure of report quality for the purpose of measuring value relevance, and rather measure the breadth of reporting. This is partly due to the early stage of development of sustainability reporting within South Africa, as well as the lack of a mandatory assured reporting framework such as the GRI, resulting in many firms preferring not to use the globally favoured GRI framework. It appears that most firms are tailoring the various frameworks available to their needs rather than using a consistent framework, which results in reports not being based on the same framework, and therefore not being comparable, even on a high level indicator basis. This highlights the need for revisions to be introduced in the King IV report which will hopefully assist in formalising the leading sustainability framework, and therefore standardising sustainability reporting, together with providing a linkage to the Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa, which requires investors to integrate their investment decisions with sustainability considerations. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Commerce (Accountancy). / Accountability by state owned companies has been lacking in recent times. The need for an oversight mechanism to improve governance and as such accountability is required for state owned companies (IOD and PWC, 2011). Integrated reporting has answered this call due to its ability to provide a holistic view of the factors that create value for an entity in the short, medium and long-term. South African state owned companies have realised the benefit integrated reporting can have on their corporate governance and as such have adopted integrated reporting in terms of King III and the IR Framework. The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends in integrated reporting by state owned companies per The Public Finance Management Act 1999 for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 financial periods. This report examines the extent of disclosure made by state owned companies per the King III and IR Framework recommendations and requirements in respect of integrated reporting; by means of using a scorecard approach to identify the level of disclosure made by each state owned company. The key findings of this study was that the level of reporting disclosure by state owned companies increased following an upward positive trend with the disclosures on average increasing from providing little information on a poor to average basis in 2013 to providing some information at a satisfactory level in 2015. It was found that there were no instances of noncompliance with overall disclosure by any of the state owned companies analysed over the three year period. Furthermore, not a single company provided disclosure overall at an excellent level in any of the three years analysed. This finding suggests that although improving, the level of integrated reporting disclosure by state owned companies is still only satisfactory and as such there is a lot of room for improvement over time. Areas that are in need of reform relate to governance, the governance of information technology, the provision of information on the outlook of the entity and information as to the basis upon which integrated reports are prepared. / MT2017

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

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