This study investigates how the listed companies in Sri Lanka gain financial benefits from Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. As businesses increasingly adopt ESG reporting to disclose their commitment to sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and ethical governance, understanding its impact is crucial. However, in developing nations like Sri Lanka, the empirical relationship between ESG reporting and financial performance remains poorly understood. By examining how ESG reporting affects financial performance metrics such as Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA), this study aims to fill this knowledge gap.Using a quantitative approach, this study analyses the ESG reporting and financial data of a sample of two hundred thirteen listed companies in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) Sri Lanka. The secondary data used for the study, was collected from published annual reports of the listed companies and Refinitiv Eikon database for the period from 2021 to 2023. The quantitative analysis includes regression and correlation techniques to assess the relationship between ESG reporting and financial performance. The results show a weak positive relationship between financial performance and ESG reporting, indicating that although ESG reporting practices may improve financial outcomes of the listed companies in Sri Lanka, this relationship is not particularly strong in the Sri Lankan context. By presenting real-world information from the perspective of emerging markets, this study adds to the body of literature on ESG reporting in academia. It emphasizes the value of strong ESG reporting systems and provides investors, politicians, and accounting professionals with useful insights. The study emphasizes the necessity of further investigations into ESG practices with a view to properly identify the consequences of ESG reporting practices for sustainability and value creation in Sri Lanka and beyond.

A significant portion of responsibility for the global socio-economic crisis referred by the authors as the "sustainability challenge" lies within the private sector. Hence to initiate a global transformation towards sustainability the participation of companies is essential. One way to engage the private sector to do that is through public policy. The European Union takes this approach with the European Green Deal and more specifically - the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) - which is the main focus of this research. The directive aims to enhance transparency, raise awareness and increase responsibility of the corporate societal and environmental impact. This thesis investigates the potency of CSRD to drive transformation. For this purpose this research employs a Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) lens to evaluate the CSRD, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. The research is divided into two parts: the first assesses the frameworks' design using the SSD lens, while the second involves interviews to gain deeper insights and pinpoint design and implementation gaps. The study also presents an overview of the challenges encountered during the implementation of the CSRD and proposes potential solutions. The thesis concludes with recommendations and suggests directions for future research.

This study contributes towards the ever-growing research field of sustainability reporting within the broader context of integrated reporting. Sustainability reporting is the integration of the environmental, social and economic aspects of an organisation in the communication with stakeholders. South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has taken a leading role in the drive for integrated reporting. The aim of the study was to determine the quality of sustainability reporting for the JSE listed firms post the introduction of listing requirements for integrated reporting. Reports of good quality enable stakeholders to make sound decisions from the reported information. The study was limited to sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms. The theoretical lens for the study is the stakeholder theory developed by Freeman (1984). The study analyses perceptions of sustainability practitioners on quality of sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms for the period of 2009 to 2017. In this study, the focus was to gain rich insights from sustainability practitioners involved in the sustainability reporting value chain of JSE listed firms. This included report preparers, report assurance providers, report users and other report critical reviewers. The recordings of the semistructured interviews undertaken in this study were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a descriptive analysis technique called Tesch’s coding. The researcher reviewed the information, probed and summarised the main themes that emerged from the qualitative research. The study shows that there are no explicit mandatory requirements for integrated reporting and sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms, contrary to the perception of some scholars and practitioners. The publication of integrated and sustainability reports is, however, now business best practice for firms on the JSE. Admittedly, this is partly because of King Codes recommendations of South Africa that promotes integrated reporting. Sustainability reporting has been improving over a nine-year period, but this cannot be solely attributed to the listing requirements. Basic interventions such as listing requirements for integrated reporting on the JSE and the shareholder compacts on South Africa’s State-owned companies, although not explicitly mandatory, have contributed in promoting integrated and sustainability reporting in South Africa. There are many drivers of sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms. These can be categorised as internal and external drivers. The internal drivers can also be regarded as critical success factors for sustainability reporting quality for JSE listed firms. The study revealed the dominance of the two drivers of sustainability reporting, namely stakeholder demands and the role of leadership in shaping sustainability reporting in the South African context. The combination of the two drivers on sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms confirms the assumptions of the stakeholder theory. In the process of determining the trends in reporting and the actual drivers for improved quality in reporting, the cross-cutting theme that emerged was that different organisations are in different stages of their reporting journey. There are early adopters and late adopters. Organisations that choose to be involved in integrated reporting and sustainability reporting experience a real journey of reporting, hence various organisations are at different stages depending when and how they commenced their reporting journey. The researcher coined that process “sustainability reporting life stages”. The study further found that there are many determinants for quality of sustainability reporting for JSE listed firms. The sustainability practitioners perceive quality from the view of the Global Reporting Initiative and Integrated Reporting Council frameworks, thus confirming the entrenchment of the two frameworks in the South African context. The best option assurance mechanism in the form of the Combined Assurance Model was observable in the better reporting sectors on the JSE and State-owned companies. The critical paths for sustainability reporting have been provided, indicating the need for sustainability leadership and stakeholder inclusiveness. / Business Management / D.B.L.

Ett av de viktigaste målen med redovisning är att informationen är jämförbar över tid och mellan företag, detta möjliggör bland annat för investerare att fatta rationella beslut. Idag är det lagstadgat att stora företag ska hållbarhetsredovisa men denna rapportering är flexibel vilket försvårar jämförelser. För att utveckla riktlinjer för hållbarhetsredovisning bildades 1997 Global Reporting Initiative, GRI. En av GRIs principer för att uppnå hållbarhetsredovisning av hög kvalitet är jämförbarhet och syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka om svenska industriföretags rapportering av företagens miljömässiga påverkan är jämförbar över tid samt företag emellan enligt GRIs princip om jämförbarhet. För att undersöka detta har en analytisk modell tagits fram med hjälp av tidigare forskning. Enligt denna modell finns det fyra faktorer som påverkar hållbarhetsredovisningars jämförbarhet - använda riktlinjer, rapporterade indikatorer, måttenheter samt absoluta och relativa tal. Studien utgick från intressentteorin som innebär att alla intressenter ska behandlas likvärdigt och att företagsledningen ska se till dessa intressenters bästa. En innehållsanalys gjordes av sju företags hållbarhetsredovisningar tre år i rad och rapporterna kodades med hjälp av ett kodningsschema och en kodningsmanual som utformats med utgångspunkt i den analytiska modellen. Dataanalysen visade att hållbarhetsredovisningarna till viss del är jämförbara över tid. Företagen rapporterar i stor utsträckning samma indikatorer och med samma måttenheter från år till år, men rapporterna saknar ofta relativa tal som beskriver förändringen från föregående år. Jämförbarheten mellan företag är något lägre då det skiljer sig åt vilka indikatorer som rapporteras och framförallt vilka måttenheter som används. / One of the most important objectives with accounting is that the information is comparable, both from one year to another and also between companies. This enables stakeholders to make rational decisions. Today, the law requires all large companies to report sustainability data but the requirements are flexible which makes it hard to compare data. To develop sustainability reporting guidelines, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was established in 1997. One of GRI’s principles to achieve high quality sustainability reporting is comparability. The aim of this study is to examine whether swedish industry companies’ reporting of their environmental impact is comparable from one year to another and between companies according to GRI’s principle of comparability. To examine this, an analytical model has been developed using previous research. According to this model there are four factors that affect the comparability of sustainability reports - the guidelines used, the reported indicators, the units of measurements, and absolute and relative numbers. The study was based on the stakeholder theory, which says that all stakeholder should be treated equally and that the managements should look to the best interest of the stakeholders. A content analysis of sustainability reports of seven companies over three years was made and the reports was encoded using a coding scheme and a coding manual that had been developed based on the analytical model. The data analysis showed that the sustainability reports partially is comparable from one year to another. The companies report the same indicators and with the same units of measurements from one year to another to a great extent, but often the reports lack relative number that describe the change from the previous year. The comparability between companies is slightly lower because the indicators reported and especially the units of measurements used vary.

Zugl.: Bochum, Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Zugl.: Köln, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-399) and index.

Integrerad rapportering (IR) sprider sig inom redovisningsvärlden och modellen ska enligt förespråkarna skänka en transparent bild över hur företagen sammanlänkar finansiell och icke-finansiell information. Genom intressent- och legitimitetsteoretiska postulat syftar studien till att visa vilka faktorer (storlek, skuldsättningsgrad, ägarkoncentration och bransch) som kan påverka valet att tillämpa IR-principer. Vidare undersöks om mängden integrerad information verkligen skiljer sig mellan företag som tillämpar IR och övriga. Fokus ligger på social- och miljöinformation som finns integrerad med övriga upplysningar.  Empirin har genererats genom en i huvudsak kvantitativ innehållsanalys av 67 årsredovisningar från företag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Large Cap. Regressionsanalyser och Mann-Whitney test har använts för att analysera den insamlade empirin.  De statistiska testerna visar att storlek och branschtillhörighet har signifikanta samband med mängden integrerad miljö- och social information i årsredovisningarna. Ägarkoncentration och skuldsättningsgrad visade dock inget samband vilket talar för att finansiella intressenter inte pressar företag mot IR-principer. Signifikanta skillnader kunde konstateras mellan årsredovisningarna som uppgavs vara integrerade i förhållande till övriga. Denna upptäckt kan tolkas som att IR-tillämpande företag även har en starkare hängivenhet till hållbarhetsfrågor.  Studien bidrar med en bild över hur IR-principer förekommer på svensk börs samt hur detta ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv skiljer sig från övriga årsredovisningar. Vidare indikerar studien att paralleller kan dras mellan IR och frivillig rapportering i övrigt då företagens storlek och branschtillhörighet påverkat årsredovisningens utformning.  Som fortsatt forskning föreslås studier kring IR ur ett användarperspektiv då utbudet av detta idag är skralt och samtidigt kritiskt för fortsatt utveckling av IR. / Integrated reporting (IR) is spreading in the accounting world and according to proponents the model should give a transparent picture of how the companies are linking financial and non-financial disclosures. Through postulates from stakeholder- and legitimacy theory this study aims to demonstrate which factors (size, debt ratio, ownership concentration and industry) that may affect the choice of applying IR principles. Furthermore, the study also examines whether the amount of integrated information really differs between companies who allege to apply IR and others. Focus lays on social- and environmental information.  The empirical data is essentially generated by a quantitative content analysis of 67 annual reports from companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Large Cap. Regression analysis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze the collected empirical data.  The statistical tests show that size and industry has significant effect on the amount of integrated information within the annual reports. Debt ratio and ownership concentration however, showed no relationship which leads to the conclusion that financial stakeholders is not pressuring the companies towards IR principles. Significant differences between the annual reports claimed to be integrated and other annual reports where observed. This finding could be interpreted as companies that apply IR also have a stronger devotion to sustainability issues.  Future research is suggested to be conducted from a user perspective. The supply of this type of studies is poor but crucial for continued development of IR.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the main theme of this diploma thesis. In the theoretical part of the diploma thesis the concept of CSR is presented together with its role in the corporate governance and the need for cooperation between different firm units to meet the pre-defined business goals. The practical part is dedicated to the analysis of the current state of fulfillment of the requirements of CSR in the social, environmental and economic field in the company Robert Bosch GmbH.

The history of environmental reporting began in the early 1990’s when some companies included the environmental issue in their annual report. The increased interest of ethical and sustainable investments and demands from different stakeholders conjure a change of the report design. To develop the environmental reports and create design guidance for sustainability reports an organisation called Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was born. The GRI is environmental reporting taken to another level, a level that is according to sustainable development. This qualitative study concerns sustainability reporting in general and the GRI-guidelines in particular. The question is why the Swedish companies, which are already using the guidelines, have chosen to use the guidelines and what type of behavioral changes within the company it has lead to? From my study, I have found that the GRI-report could help corporations to be able to see what actually has been done in the organisation. My conclusion is that the GRI-guideline is a potential tool for gaining control and visibility of the triple bottom line on a corporate level, and it highlights the importance of collecting internal information.

Bakgrunden till denna uppsats handlar om högre utbildning och dess viktiga roll i relation till hållbar utveckling. Forskning visar att högre utbildning ligger efter i implementering av hållbarhetsredovisning och det var därför intressant att studera svensk högre utbildning utifrån detta.Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka, beskriva och skapa en djupare förståelse kring hur högre utbildning redovisar arbetet med att främja hållbar utveckling i den egna organisa-tionen. Syftet var också att beskriva eventuella skillnader i hållbarhetsredovisning mellan lärosäten.Den metod som användes för studien var en kombinerad kvalitativ och kvantitativ innehålls-analys. Utifrån ett stratifierat sannolikhetsurval undersöktes årsredovisningar för åtta lärosäten avseende hållbarhetsredovisning. Global Reporting Initiatives ramverk och riktlinjer användes som utgångspunkt för den analysmodell som utvecklades för att bättre passa den sektor som studerades, högre utbildning.Resultatet visar att det pågår ett omfattande arbete med att främja hållbar utveckling i den egna organisationen inom svensk högre utbildning. Lärosätenas hållbarhetsredovisning utifrån den sociala dimensionen pekar tydligt på detta, medan den ekologiska dimensionen har ett begränsat utrymme i årsredovisningarna. Resultatet visar också att det finns skillnader mellan lärosäten avseende både innehåll och omfattning av hållbarhetsredovisning. Enskilda utbildningsanordnare redovisar klart mest följt av universiteten, högskolorna och konstnärliga högskolor. / The background to this essay is the important role higher education hold in relation to sustainable development. Research shows that higher education is at an early stage regarding implementation of sustainability reporting and it is therefore interesting to study Swedish higher education based on this.The purpose of this study was to investigate, describe and create a deeper understanding of how higher education is reporting its work to promote sustainable development in its own organization. The purpose was also to describe possible differences in sustainability reporting between institutions.The method used for the study was a combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Based on a stratified probability survey, annual reports for eight institutions were examined regarding sustainability reporting. The Global Reporting Initiative framework and guidelines were used as a basis for the analysis and a model was developed to better fit the sector studied, higher education.The findings show that there is extensive work going on in promoting sustainable develop-ment in the own organization within Swedish higher education. Sustainability reporting in higher education institutions based on the social dimension clearly points to this, while the ecological dimension has limited scope in the annual reports. The findings also show that there are differences between the institutions regarding content and scope of sustainability reporting. Private institutions clearly reports the most followed by universities, colleges and artistic colleges.This paper is written in Swedish.