Bedside reporting is one way to improve communication among the health care team. At the study site, at least 50% of bedside reporting was being conducted at the door of the patient's room instead of at the patient's bedside. The project question addressed whether a computer-based education and training video on bedside reporting and a standardized bedside reporting checklist would increase the rate of bedside shift-to-shift reporting among a medical surgical unit (MSU) to 100%. The project addressed the implementation of standardizing bedside reporting through education and training using Agency for Health Care Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Guide to patient and family engagement. The project also promoted use of a standardized tool to conduct bedside reporting and a surveillance tool to ensure bedside reporting was being conducted. Data was collected through surveys and surveillance. The data was tabulated for frequencies displayed in percentages. Post-implementation findings indicated that bedside reporting went from 0% to 86% during the 2-week surveillance period. MSU nursing staff improved their knowledge and skill on how to conduct bedside reporting, but their attitude did not change as they thought the practice of bedside reporting was not an effective use of their time. Findings may be used to increase involvement of patients and families in their inpatient health care.

This study examined the impact of fiscal decentralization on quality financial reporting at the local government level in Ghana. The study is important because it provides development partners with the assurance that Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) funds are used for their intended purposes. The study was based on the theory of local public expenditures, which posits that fiscal decentralization may enhance local capacities for service delivery. The key research question examined the extent to which fiscal decentralization has influenced quality financial reporting at the local level. The research design was quantitative, randomly sampling stakeholders in the local government structures including traditional rulers, assembly members, principal spending officers, budget officers, auditors, and accountants (n = 65). Descriptive plots, Pearson chi-square, and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between the dependent variable of quality financial reporting and the independent variables of expenditure responsibilities, taxation powers, intergovernmental fiscal transfers, and borrowing powers. The results of the analysis revealed taxation powers to be the most significant contributor to quality financial reporting. Quality financial reporting improved internally-generated resources, reduced audit queries, and served as a basis for granting funds to MMDAs. The study recommends that MMDAs be given taxation powers to enable local assemblies to generate more revenue so as to minimize the need for the transfer of funds from development partners and central government. The significant social change implication of this study lies in giving MMDAs control of service delivery at the local level.

År 1992 gick startskottet för att hållbarhet skulle bli företags skyldighet utifrån tidigare sattaglobala hållbarhetsmål. Detta medförde en diskussion om hur hållbarhet skulle rapporteras.Inte förrän 25 år senare anammas detta som ett lagkrav för större företag i Sverige. Problemetär sålunda, att trots lagkrav om hållbarhetsrapportering finns det inget lagstyrt ramverk somföretag måste använda. Målet med studien är därmed att studera vilka ramverk som användsav Sveriges börsbolag. Börsbolagen delas även upp i olika branscher för att synliggöraeventuella skillnader kring ramverkens användning i respektive bransch. I samband med dettahar vi studerat vilka företag som hållbarhetsredovisar under tre olika tidpunkter; 2014, 2016samt 2018. Med hjälp av en kvantitativ innehållsanalys har bland annat följande slutsatserpåträffats: Att fler företag och branscher hållbarhetsredovisar, vilket beror påÅrsredovisningslagens tvingande isomorfism, samt att hållbarhetsrapporterna frambringarlegitimitet. Ramverken Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards,International Organization for Standardization (ISO), UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) och UN Global Compact (UN GC) är de mest använda ramverken. / The importance of sustainable responsibility for enterprises was introduced in 1992 lead bythe global goals of sustainability at the time. This evoked a discussion involving methods forthe accounting of sustainability. After a period of approximately 25 years, the SwedishAnnual Accounts Act was reformed to include legislation meaning larger enterprises ought toaccount for their sustainability work. Beyond this legislation, however, there is no guidanceregarding which framework an enterprise should turn to for help. The goal of this study hastherefore been to examine the uses of specific frameworks in listed companies on TheNASDAQ Stockholm stock exchange. The companies’ choice of framework is also examinedin regards to their line of business. Three points for measurement have been distinguished asthe years of 2014, 2016 and 2018. A quantitative content analysis was conducted whichgenerated a few conclusions. The results pinpoint that most companies, as well as most of thelines of businesses, conduct a sustainability report. It was also shown that businesses conductthese reports in regards to the legitimacy it earns them, as well as the compelling isomorphismthrough the Swedish Annual Accounts Act. The most frequently used frameworks weredistinguished as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards,International Organization for Standardization (ISO), UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) and the UN Global Compact (UN GC).

Jämförbarhet i hållbarhetsrapporten är en nödvändighet för att informationen ska vara användbar för användarna. För att främja jämförbar information ska svenska företag följa hållbarhetslagen som bygger på EU-direktivet om hållbarhetsrapportering. Till sin hjälp kan företagen tillämpa internationella frivilliga ramverk som exempelvis Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). I och med att det finns ett flertal frivilliga ramverk att tillämpa kan företagen välja ifall dem vill följa något ramverk, med det utgör inget krav, för att uppfylla hållbarhetslagen. Detta utrymme av frivillighet bidrar till den stora variation i antalet resultatindikatorer som företagen lämnar upplysningar om i hållbarhetsrapporten, vilket gör att informationen inte blir jämförbar. Denna studie vill bidra med kunskap till forskningsfältet genom att (1) kartlägga jämförbarheten i hållbarhetsrapporter i form av hur utförligt företagen noterade på Stockholmsbörsen Large Cap tillämpar resultatindikatorer till rapporteringskravets kategorier och (2) förklara och analysera sambandet mellan företagens branschtillhörighet, företagens andel kvinnor i styrelsen och utförlighetsnivån i hållbarhetsrapporter som omfattas av hållbarhetslagen. För att besvara studiens syfte genomfördes en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av samtliga företag som uppfyllde kriterierna för hållbarhetsrapportering och GRI:s ramverk på Stockholmsbörsen Large Cap. Resultatet visade att båda sambanden var relativt svaga. Sambandet för företagens branschtillhörighet visade sig något starkare jämfört med andelen kvinnor i styrelsen. Det tyder på att det finns andra underliggande faktorer som påverkar jämförbarheten i hållbarhetsrapporten. / The comparability in the sustainability report is a necessity to serve its main purpose, which is to be useful for the stakeholders. To encourage comparable information in the sustainability report, Swedish companies must comply with the national sustainability law, which is based on the EU directive of sustainability reporting. To comply with the national sustainability law companies can apply international voluntary frameworks such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), but there is no imperative requirement. All the voluntary frameworks may contribute to the observed differences of indicators disclosed in the sustainability reports, which makes the information not comparable. This study contributes to the field of research by (1) mapping the comparability in the sustainability reports of firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange Large Cap by investigating the level of completeness for the reporting requirements categories and (2) explain and analyse the correlation between the company´s sector, board diversity and the level of completeness of firms that are covered by the national sustainability law. Therefore, a quantity content analysis was conducted on all companies in our sample. The findings display a weak relationship between the investigated variables. This suggest that there are other underlying factors that may affect the comparability in the sustainability reports.

The broad aim of this research was to assess the decision-usefulness of environmental reports produced by South African companies that are listed on the Johanessburg Securities Exchange (JSE) to users of the reports. The study was motivated by a lack of research on the decision-usefulness of environmental reports in South Africa. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase in form of a content analysis evaluated the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports of top 100 JSE-listed South African companies using a control list and a judgement scale. The second phase in form of a questionnaire survey was aimed at determining, the information needs of users of environmental reports produced by South African companies (that are listed on the JSE), the extent to which they read and employ the reports for making decisions. In addition, this phase was meant to ascertain the degree of users' satisfaction with the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports as well as elicit their suggestions on ways of improving the reports. Furthermore, the second phase was aimed at determining the users’ perception of the relative importance of environmental reports as well as ascertaining whether there was an expectation gap between the users and the preparers of the reports with regard to their decision-usefulness. The results of the content analysis phase of the study indicate that the environmental reports of the sampled companies were decision-useful, however their decision-usefulness varied widely. Although decision-useful, the environmental reports of the sampled companies were not comparable. In addition, the environmental reports of companies from sectors with a significant impact on the environment, and those of large companies were more decision-useful than the reports of companies from sectors with an insignificant impact on the environment and those of smaller companies. The results of the questionnaire survey phase of the study indicate that users prefer balanced environmental reports that disclose both negative and positive aspects that identify and describe key relevant issues, that are specific and contain accurate information, and that provide future oriented information. In addition, users prefer environmental reports that identify and address key stakeholders and their concerns, demonstrate the integration of environmental issues into core business processes, and that compare quantitative impacts against best practice. Furthermore, the results also indicate that users do read environmental reports, mostly from companies’ websites Portable Document Format (PDF) annual reports and that they mostly use the environmental reports for research, their own knowledge, and to hold companies accountable. However, users are not fully satisfied with the decision-usefulness of the environmental reports as they feel that there is a need to improve the reports in order to make them more decision-useful. The results also indicate that users perceive environmental reports to be more important than any other type of reports, most notably the financial reports. Comparing the responses of the users to those of preparers on various issues pertaining to the decision-usefulness of environmental reports, significant differences were found between the views of the two groups. These differences provide ample evidence that is consistent with the existence of an environmental reporting expectation gap in South Africa. This study makes several original contributions to environmental reporting literature, most notable of which is that, it is the first study in the South African context to empirically evaluate the quality (decision-usefulness) of environmental reports in line with the accounting conceptual frameworks and the GRI guidelines combined. By so doing, the study introduces to the academic literature an extensive five dimensional qualitative characteristic framework for evaluating the quality (decision-usefulness) of environmental reports. In addition, the study uniquely employs the decision-usefulness theory to provide insights into the environmental reporting practices of South African companies that are listed on the JSE. In so doing, it re-contextualises the theory that is typically employed in explaining financial reporting, and demonstrates its applicability in explaining the decision-usefulness of the environmental reporting practices of South African companies that are listed on the JSE. / Accounting / D. Com. (Accounting)

Prior to 1994 I had little interest in the activities of the police. As a mass media consumer I was aware of the prominence of crime in the daily news agenda and I watched, read and listened to potted summaries of rape, mayhem and murder. Frequent too, were stories of police malpractice, incompetence and corruption. Police stories were also a significant part of television drama with programs like the long running British series The Bill, and a range of Australian productions: The Feds, Halifax f.p, Rafferty's Rules, Blue Heelers, State Coroner, and Water Rats. The police also featured at the cinema with crime genre movies Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, USA), Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, New Zealand) and Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, USA) becoming box office hits. My interest in the portrayal of police change dramatically when on the 7th of October 1994, I was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Media and Publications Branch of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). I was responsible for all aspects of the communication function including: media liaison, crisis management, media management, publications and internal communication. My branch dealt with media inquiries from local, national and international media across the gamut of issues facing the AFP. These ranged fiom industrial issues about budgets and overtime, allegations of corruption and incompetence, and operational matters as diverse as burglaries, alleged Nazi war criminals, peace-keeping operations and drug 'busts'. Needless to say my police stakeholders did not always see things the same way as my media colleagues. I was seeing at a practical day-to-day level the complex taxonomy of police/media relations outlined by Putnis (1996). Putnis noted the ubiquity of the police and the media as social institutions and observed that their daily operations involved a complex, dynamic, relationship constructed out of many thousands of interactions, across all levels of the organisations, in many different settings. My experiences in dealing with the media became the genesis of this study. My aim is to expand our understanding of the police/media relationship by exploring characteristic forms of print news-media reports about policing, the impact these reports have on police, and on law and order policy. The possibility of bias towards police in this study is acknowledged given I was a member of a police service fiom 1994 until 2002 and the research relies heavily on 'participant observer' techniques (Kay 1997; Potter1 996; Schofield 1993). Every effort has been made to maintain a critical perspective on the subject matters raised and it should be noted my association with police ended prior to the writing-up phase of the research. In addition to comments fiom my supervisory panel, ongoing discussions with media colleagues were another strategy adopted to ensure balance in the writing-up of this study. This is a unique study in that it offers an insider's perspective of police/media relations and at a time that represented a watershed for police. The early 90s was a period of straightened finances for public sector agencies and police, like other agencies, were under pressure fiom governments to demonstrate the efficient use of public monies (AFP 1995; Grieve 2000). Reform programs swept through policing with many, like the AFP, being organised along business lines (Palmer 1995; Etter 1995; Rohl 1999; WAPOL 1999). The 90s were also a watershed for criminal organisations with the emergence of transnational criminal syndicates, such as drug traffickers, that had the potential to impact on crime at a local level without even entering the country, let alone the jurisdiction, in which the crime took place (Bliss and Harfield 1998; Palmer 1995; McFarlane 1999). In order to combat these syndicates, police began to work in a more cooperative fashion and formed loose coalitions, often across countries, in a manner similar to the criminal syndicates they were trying to combat (Palmer 1995). The 90s also saw the continuation of committees of inquiry and royal commissions into police malpractice (Landa and Dillon 1995) and the inevitable bad press for police (Wood 1996; Munday 1995). The media and police have a symbiotic relationship and it is a critical one as most members of society have little direct contact with the criminal justice system. Information about crime, and the efforts of police to combat it, is obtained second hand through fictional accounts from such vehicles as television dramas, and from the news media. As aptly described by Hall et al. (1975), nearly thirty years ago, the media is the link between crime and the public. The police are therefore heavily reliant on the media to provide a balanced account of the panoply of issues surrounding the criminal justice system (Cowdery 2001). At its most fundamental, police require the support of the communities they serve in order to be effective, and the news media can have a major impact on perceptions about police performance (Reiner 1997; Surette 1992). As organisational entities, police need to compete with other bureaucracies for public hnding, and the media is an essential tool in generating positive publicity about successful operations and policies. The media is, therefore, critical to the maintenance of positive relationships with the two most important stakeholders in the policing function: the community and the government. McGregor (1993) provides a useful summary of the literature relating to print media coverage of policing issues: there are substantial discrepancies between official accounts of criminal activity and press reports of crime; the media tends to homogenise crime by concentrating on a limited range of crimes (mainly violent crime) and drawing facts from a limited range of sources (police/court reports); the media over-report serious crimes, especially murder and crimes with a sexual element; and, the press concentrates crime reportage on events rather than issues, so crime incidents and specific crimes form the bulk of crime news as opposed to analyses of the causes of crime or remedies, trends or issues. McQuail (1994, p.256) reminds us that assessing media performance on the basis of media content, measured against the extent to which content relates to reality, is open to question. He argues that there is no general answer to questions of meaning construction, but media research has pointed to several elements in a more general framework of social and personal meanings including clues as to what is more or less important, salient or relevant in many different contexts (1994, p. 379). An important research question concerns the impact of news media practices, particularly given the significant costs to the community flowing from the commission of crime, its investigation by police, and the processing of offenders through the criminal justice system. The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates the cost of crime in Australia is approximately $19 billion, while the cost of dealing with crime is another $13 billion (Mayhew 2003). The news media, articulated through radio talk-back hosts, are seen as having undue influence on how public funds on crime control are spent (ABC, The Media Report, 1 August 2002; Chan 1995; Cowdery 2001; Dixon 2002; Weatherbum 2002). These commentators have pointed to the serious public policy issues arising from the contribution made by the media towards what Weatherburn describes as an irrational public debate about law and order (2002, p. 12) and Hogg and Brown have coined 'the uncivil politics of law and order' (1998, p. 4). As Hogg and Brown (1998, p. 4) observe: crime is depicted as a problem of ever-increasing gravity set to overwhelm society unless urgent, typically punitive measures are taken to control and suppress it. The influence of the media on public policy has long been recognised. As Paletz and Entmann (l981, p. 6) observe: they influence the decisions and actions of politicians; they are open to manipulation by the powerful which insulates the powerful fiom accountability to the public; they reallocate power amongst the already powerful; they decreased to a marked extent the ability of ordinary citizens to judge events; they foment discontent among the public; and they preserve the legitimacy of the political, economic and social system. Ethnomethodological approaches (Ericson and Haggerty 1997) underpin the research in this study. The ethnomethodological approach was used because of its wider scope, employing as it does, observation, interviewing, and document-analysis techniques (Ericson et al. 1987, p. 77) and its ability to provide meaning and context to the phenomena under observation (Hall 1978; Willis l981). Ethnomethodological approaches are complemented by news framing analyses (Barkin and Gurevitch 1987; Blood, Putnis and Pirkis 2002; Capella and Jamieson 1996; Coleman 1995; Entman 1993; Kitzinger 2000; Keely 1999; Darling-Wolf 1997; London 1993; Pan and Kosicki 2001; Miller and Riechert 2001; Pirkis and Blood 2001; Reese, Gandy and Grant 2003; Scheufele 1999) to explore the news media frames employed in the genre of print crime reporting. What emerges from the study is evidence of a one-sided, highly negative, discourse about policing implemented through a range of media frames centred on conflict and broader xenophobic and egalitarian narratives. Despite the advantages police have as information gatekeepers, their attempts to manage the media environment have met with little success (Hughes 2004; Williams 2002) and the need for police to restrict access to police communications is being challenged (Crime and Misconduct Commission 2004, Inquiry into the effects of a Queensland Police Service decision to adopt digital technology for radio communications). There are exceptions, of course: the news media are not all bad. Routine reporting of crimes, where details of offenders are publicised, greatly assists the work of police as reflected in the case of 43-year-old Mr Colin George Dunstan which is discussed in Chapter Eight. Dunstan sent a series of explosive devices through the mail system in Canberra and police provided the media with photographs of the devices, Mr Dunstan (who was the main suspect), and his vehicle. The media coverage restricted Mr Dunstan's movements and led to his early arrest. Similarly, publication of the details of missing persons, warnings about lethal batches of drugs and crimes such as drink-spiking, enable police to reach a mass audience efficiently and quickly. And at a more abstract level, as noted by McQuail (1994, p. 34), modem communication vehicles can make a positive contribution to cohesion and community. The emergence of the 'yapping pack' form of journalism (Tiffen 1999, p. 207) has resulted in elements of the media exercising a worrying degree of influence over what should be a broader and better informed debate about criminal justice issues. An illustration of this process occurred toward the end of this study with the widely reported spectacle of the Premier of New South Wales presenting his replacement police minister before radio presenter Mr Alan Jones for his endorsement; the subsequent involvement of that minister in operational police matters (Williams 2002); and the departure of the state's police commissioner as a result of sustained media attack (ABC, The Media Report, 1 August 2002; Weatherburn 2002). These incidents say much about the influence of the news media in relation to police matters and makes this study a timely one. What follows is a literature review examining contemporary trends in policing and the media; a detailed analysis of two major case studies involving complex police operations; an analysis of a number of examples of print media reports about policing, to identify typical, or characteristic, media frames; the findings from nearly 50 interviews with senior people involved in the policelmedia interface; and an examination of changes in the milieu in which media reports about policing occur.

Coverage of the Third World by the media in the developed Western nations has been a subject of intense debate among scholars since the 1970s. Some of the outspoken media critics have pointed to certain imbalances in Western media reporting on some parts of the world, including African countries. Such imbalances range from inadequate coverage to emphasis on crisis news events. Other critics argue, however, that Western news reporting on African countries, for example, is crisis-oriented because that is the kind of news those countries offer to the media given the recurrence of various forms of crises there. The 1984-85 Ethiopian famine was one such crisis that received extensive coverage in the Western media. Criticisms of this coverage served to fuel a growing concern among African and other intellectuals, particularly about one aspect of Western media reporting: the failure of those media to put into adequate context African events on which they report. Some critics have pointed out, for example, that although environmental decline is a major underlying cause of famine in Africa, it does not receive attention in Western media coverage of this recurring crisis. This is in spite of the pioneering role of the latter in the promotion of environmental issues in the West as a major social and political concern. From a much broader perspective, however, it appears that the case of imbalanced reporting on Africa in the Western media is not an isolated one. A number of studies on news reporting suggests that the criticism of imbalances in Western news reporting may have more to do with the nature of Western news values than with a wilful attempt on the part of the Western media to report on particular countries in those terms. Thus reporting on African countries by the Western media could be one typical example in which standard Western news practices come into full play. Against this background, the present study sought to investigate Western media coverage of Africa as viewed in terms of the application of Western news values. First, using qualitative analyses of relevant literature, the study undertook a contextualisation of crisis events in African countries, with special reference to famines, by identifying environmental degradation as a crucial factor in the unfolding of such crises. This included explanations for the apparent neglect of African environmental issues by Western media. Discussion on the environment was set in a wider context of a global environmental crisis. The qualitative analyses also examined the issue of imbalances, such as the focus on crisis and the lack of context, in Western media coverage of Africa. This was explored within a theoretical framework that encapsulates aspects of the political economy of the mass media, political ideological differences, and culture as some of the theoretical propositions used by some media researchers to explain imbalances in international news flow. Second, the study used the quantitative research technique of content analysis to carry out a longitudinal investigation of reporting on African countries in general during 1982-87 as well as a case study of the 1984-85 Ethiopian famine by three Western dailies: The Times of London, the New York Times, and the Sydney Morning Herald. An IAMCR (International Association for Mass Communication Research) coding scheme was adopted for this purpose. With regard to the qualitative analyses, the study found that even though environmental decline is a major underlying cause of many of Africa's ongoing and recurring crises such as famines, it may not receive attention in Western media reporting on those crises. This appears to be because the nature of Africa's environmental problems does not meet Western news value criteria. As regards the content analyses, the study found, in both the longitudinal and case studies, a dearth of reporting in all three dailies on African environmental issues and an orientation towards reporting events as discrete events, with little or no attention to underlying or contextual information. Crisis and non-crisis events in Africa were found to be, however, equally reported in most of the sample years studied in two of the three dailies. The focus of reporting on the Ethiopian famine was found to be on Western relief activities and on the bizarre or sensational side of the disaster - aspects of reporting that fit into standard Western news practices.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how the Straits Times reported Singapore's communication news between May 1992 and October 1995, with a focus on Singapore's communication regionalisation. This study is a modest attempt to depart from some of the approaches taken by recent communication related studies of the Singapore experience. They tend to focus on the domestic side of state-press relationship and the issue of Singaporean press freedom, without sustained consideration of external forces, such as globalisation. This analysis provides a synthesis of secondary sources and a qualitative content analysis of communication news in the Straits Times. The results suggest there has been a convergence between the stories in the Straits Times and official views about two themes - business regionalisation and 'Asian' media standards. Results suggest the government has an extensive influence over Singapore's communication, especially with regard to media content. Also, the analysis shows Singapore's identification with Asia, despite bilateral and regional tensions in business and culture, and suggests an uneasy relationship between Singapore and the West, in particular, with the US. That is, while Singapore's business relations with the US are good, its cultural relations are not, especially when Singapore's practice of media standards does not accept the American interpretation, but one based on its national interests. This study provides a glimpse of global communication forces which are influencing Singapore's communication development, as interpreted in the stories from the Straits Times. Although there remains uncertainties about Singapore's communication future, this study may provide an insight as to whether Singapore has taken the right direction in becoming a leading country in advocating an 'Asian voice'.

<p>Abstract</p><p>In 1998 the Swedish legislation was sharpened, and active educationalists were legally bound to report any suspicion of child maltreatment. Nevertheless, there are a number of unrecorded cases of maltreated children, and research reveals that less than half of these children are reported to social services (Olsson, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to illustrate the problems with the mandatory reports in schools, as well as to study how educationalists proceed when they suspect that a child is maltreated. The method consisted of semi-structured interviews with five educationalists. The results revealed complex problems regarding educationalists mandatory reports. The procedures and routines varied and seem to be dependent on the educationalists, schools, and situations. The results also exposed the lack of official support in form of policy procedure manuals. Conclusion was that educationalists defined maltreated children in different ways, and in addition educationalists were not aware of the full significance of the mandatory reporting, even though they were aware of that they had a duty to report.</p>

<p>With sustainability means taking responsibility for the reality that you live and operate in. The concept sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Elkington, 1999, p, 55).</p><p>Sustainable reporting means to extend the ordinary financial reporting to include both the environmental and social/ethical impacts that the organisation have, so called triple bottom line. We are in our essay discussing the element of sustainability reporting and how to perform one. Today there are an increased pressure from stakeholders on companies to express their values and ethical responsibility. This forces the organisations to extend their ordinary financial reporting to include environmental and social impacts that their operations have.</p><p>We have in our essay looked at the global ethical guidelines for sustainability reporting, the Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative and from these tried to examine how companies can establish a sustainability report. Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative are two voluntary codes that companies can draw inspire from when creating a sustainability report.</p><p>Our purpose with this essay is to examine the concept of sustainability reporting on the basis of observing three financial institutions and their sustainability reports. We have chosen to look at the three different banks, Rabobank Group, the Co-operative Financial Services and Swedbank, to compare how they have constructed their sustainability reports, and to see how they have drawn inspiration from the Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative.</p><p>The investigation is of a qualitative approach where the examined source is the companies’ sustainability reports. The reports have been analyzed and from the analysis have conclusions been drawn to try and interpret how the companies have acted towards the guidelines. Mainly we have been looking at the organisations and the existing balance between the economical, social and environmental aspects. Further we have also been looking at the organisational structure and the management’s attitude towards Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, and the progress to implement it within the organisations. Finally we have tried to observe the relationship between the organisations and stakeholders and the transparency in communicating about the measures being taken.</p><p>We have come to the conclusion that both Rabobank and Co-operative Financial Services, CFS, have a more developed sustainability report compared to Swedbank.</p><p>We believe the reason why can be found in many different aspects, since there is not just one component that makes a sustainability report. Both Rabobank and CFS are co-operative organisations that are being owned and controlled by its members, compared to Swedbank who is a public company that have obligations towards its shareholders. The managements’ attitude towards sustainability also has an effect of the outcome of the reports as well as attitudes from the society in which the company is operating.</p>