Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera vad företag inom den privata sektorn har för uttalade motiv till att hållbarhetsredovisa. Metod: I denna studie har den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden tillämpats. Vidare genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med olika företag verkande inom olika branscher. Intervjuerna hade alla en intervjumall som utgångspunkt vid intervjun. Empirin har kommit oss tillhanda från intervjuer med elva företag. Fem telefonintervjuer genomförda med Hemtex, KappAhl, IKEA, NilsonGroup och Fritidsresor. Även sex intervjuer genomförda på plats, dessa företag var Handelsbanken, Bring, EY, Folksam, JM och Fabege. Empiri: Resultatet visade att de främsta motiven till att privata företag valde att hållbarhetsredovisa var för att visa transparens gentemot dess intressenter, långsiktigheten vad gäller framtida generationer och företagets affärsnytta, samt att det för vissa upplevdes som ett krav. Slutsats: Beroende på hållbarhetsredovisningens omfattning och frekvens i företagen drog vi slutsatsen att det fanns ett klart samband mellan dessa och företagets motivation. De företag som etablerat arbetet mer i affärsverksamheten visade tendens till att se arbetet som långsiktigt, medan företag med ett mindre strukturerat arbete mer upplevde det som ett krav. Att visa transparent till intressenterna var även det ett viktigt motiv för företagen att hållbarhetsredovisa. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze what companies in the private sector has stated for reasons for sustainability reporting. Methods: In this study we have applied a qualitative research method and used semi-structured interviews with different companies, operating in various industries. All the interviews used an interview guide for the interview. The empirical research has been collected by interviews with eleven companies. Five interviews conducted by phone with Hemtex, KappAhl, IKEA, NilsonGroup and Fritidsresor. Six interviews were conducted at each companies headquarter. These companies were Handelsbanken, Bring, EY, Folksam, JM and Fabege. Empirics: The result shows that the primary motivations for private companies to do sustainability reporting were to show transparency towards their stakeholders, look in a long-term perspective in terms of future generations and business benefit and that some felt that they were forced. Conclusion: Depending on the extent on sustainability reporting and its frequency in the companies there was a clear correlation between these and their motivation. The companies that had establish the work more in the business tended to see the work as a long-term, while companies with a less structured work saw it as a forced work. To show transparent to stakeholders was also an important reason for companies to work with a sustainability report.

Den nya regleringen medför att cirka 1600 svenska bolag ska upprätta en hållbarhetsrapport från och med räkenskapsåret 2017 med bland annat krav på sitt hållbarhetsarbete kring frågor som miljö, social, personal, mänskliga rättigheter och korruption. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och förklara hur införandet av hållbarhetsredovisning enligt årsredovisningslagen påverkat företags hållbarhetsredovisning. För att undersöka eventuella skillnader genomfördes innehållsanalyser av företags års- och hållbarhetsrapporter. Denna innehållsanalys kvantifierades sedan utifrån en checklista. Den teoretiska referensramen är uppbyggd kring fenomenet hållbarhetsredovisning och relevanta redovisningsteorier. Empirin består av data från innehållsanalysen av företags års- och hållbarhetsrapporter. Utifrån den insamlade empirin analyseras de förändringar som skett mellan åren de inte fanns någon reglering och efter införandet av hållbarhetsredovisning enligt årsredovisningslagen. Tidigare studier tyder på att företag uteslutit negativ information för att skapa en mer positiv bild av företaget. Efter införandet av regleringen redovisar företag i allt större grad aspekter som kan tolkas som negativa. / The new regulation that has been introduced requires approximately 1600 Swedish companies to produce a sustainability report of the financial year 2017 with their work surrounding questions like environment, social, personal, human rights as well as corruption. The purpose of this study is to examine and explain how the introduction of sustainability reporting according to the new regulations affect the company’s work with sustainability. To examine the potential differences, we performed a content analysis on the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports. The empirical evidence consists of the data collected from the content analysis of the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports. With the collected empirical evidence an analysis was completed on the differences through the examined years. Previous studies have shown that companies tend to leave out negative information about the company to project a more positive image. With the new regulation companies include negative aspects of their business.

The awareness of social and environmental responsibility has increased among companies over the years. It has become increasingly important for companies to show the world that they are committed and do take responsibility towards communities. The clothing industry is sensitive to public opinion and has gotten critiqued for their negative impact on the environment and societies. Many companies have published their sustainability reports and disclose their sustainability activities.  Previous research is divided on why the companies voluntarily report on their sustainability. Why do companies in the clothing industry voluntarily publish their sustainability reports? What are the underlying motivations of the companies? Our suspicion was that the companies wanted to legitimize their business by imitating the competitors' sustainability activities in order to obtain legitimacy from their stakeholders. Through three interviews with sustainability managers from MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB and Ellos Group AB, and content analysis of the three companies' sustainability reports, we found that the primary reason why companies choose to report on their sustainability is because they want to legitimize their business. / Medvetenheten om ett socialt och miljömässigt ansvar har ökat bland företagen genom åren. Det har blivit allt viktigare för företagen att kunna visa omvärlden att det är ett engagerat företag som tar sitt ansvar gentemot samhällen. Klädindustrin är känslig för kritik från samhälle som har kritiserats företagen för deras negativa inverkan på miljön och samhället. Många företag har publicerat hållbarhetsredovisningar som beskriver deras hållbarhetsarbete. Tidigare forskning är splittrad på vad som egentligen är anledningen att företag hållbarhetsredovisar. Varför väljer företagen inom klädåterförsäljare industri att frivilligt utföra samt publicera hållbarhetsredovisning? Vilka underliggande motiv finns det hos företagen? Våra misstankar kretsade kring att företagen vill legitimera sin verksamhet genom att imitera konkurrenternas hållbarhets praxis för att erhålla legitimitet från sina intressenter. Genom tre intervjuer med hållbarhetsansvariga från MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB och Ellos Group AB samt en innehållsanalys av de tre företagens hållbarhetsrapporter kom vi fram till att främsta anledningen till att företagen väljer att hållbarhetsredovisa är för att de vill legitimera sin verksamhet.

The purpose of sustainability reports is to represent the progress of a company’s sustainability effort and status to stakeholders. There is a need for stakeholders to benchmark sustainability performance of companies. The objective of this research was to find evidence that the GRI Application Level used in the ranking GRI compliant sustainability reports, is an indicator of financial performance for companies trading on the JSE in South Africa.The results will show that there is no evidence to show that the GRI Applications Level is an indicator of financial performance. The consequence of this evidence is that the lack of adequate benchmark standards can de-motivate companies to strive for higher sustainability performance. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

During the 21st century the attention of sustainability and social responsibility has increased. Therefore, it is interesting to study how the responsibility is expressed in sustainability reports within today's companies. In this study we examine the motives behind the sustainability work in order to identify the driving forces of the companies, but also to illustrate possible variations between industries. The study is based on qualitative content analyzes of sustainability reports from eight companies, operating in four different industries. Research in the area shows that small and medium-sized companies represent 90 percent of the world's companies and the motives for working sustainably are related to firm size. Therefore, it is interesting to study companies that fall into the considerably smaller category, large companies. There is also research which suggests that social responsibility can be a business-oriented motivation or a form of resource efficiency which further generates both internal and external benefits. The previous research also shows that the sustainability phenomenon is more developed in Sweden compared to other countries, which is another interesting aspect to why we examine the Swedish context. Our result indicates that the motives behind social responsibility are related to a specific company, rather than being an industry-specific phenomenon. The study also highlights that there are variations regarding both the degree and form of responsibility, which can be found within the social sustainability aspect. / Under 2000-talet har uppmärksamheten kring området hållbarhet och socialt ansvar ökat. Det är därmed intressant att studera hur ansvaret tar sitt uttryck i hållbarhetsrapporteringen inom dagens företag. I detta självständiga arbete undersöker vi motiven bakom hållbarhetsarbetet för att identifiera företagens drivkrafter, men även eventuella variationer mellan branscher. Studien är baserad på kvalitativa innehållsanalyser av hållbarhetsrapporter från åtta företag, verksamma inom fyra olika branscher. Forskning inom området redogör för att små- och medelstora företag representerar 90 procent av världens företag samt att motiven till att arbeta hållbart är relaterade till dess storlek. Det är därmed intressant att studera företag som ingår i den avsevärt mindre kategorin, nämligen storföretagen. Det finns även forskning som tyder på att socialt ansvar kan utgöra en affärsinriktad motivation eller en form av resurseffektivisering som vidare genererar både interna och externa fördelar. Den tidigare forskningen visar dessutom att hållbarhetsfenomenet är mer utvecklat i Sverige jämfört med andra länder, varpå det är intressant att vi undersöker den svenska kontexten. Vårt resultat tyder på att motiven bakom det sociala ansvaret är relaterat till det specifika företaget, snarare än att vara ett branschspecifikt fenomen. Studien belyser även att det finns variationer avseende både den grad och form av ansvar som återfinns inom den sociala hållbarhetsaspekten.

International organisations and global businesses aim to achieve green growth through the decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts. However, increased evidence calls into question the approach of green growth, that has been adopted by international institutions such as the UN and the OECD. The current indication is that there is no significant decoupling taking place and substantial theoretical barriers remain for it to occur. From that basis I investigate how businesses use narratives related to decoupling and green growth to manage legitimacy while pursuing the conflicting goals of both economic growth and environmental sustainability. This is achieved through document analysis and thematic analysis of sustainability reports from 50 of the world’s largest transnational corporations. The narratives are then analysed from the perspective of legitimacy theory. I identify seven narratives: i) Businesses recognise the problems, ii) Action is being taken, iii) Goals have basis in science, iv) Technology and innovation provide the solutions, v) Businesses offer crucial benefits, vi) Businesses are at the hands of demand and vii) External action is needed. These are then derived into strategies using legitimacy theory and two overarching themes are identified, the narratives mitigating businesses' negative ties to environmental impacts and communicate that businesses are conforming to societal expectations. The narrative findings and legitimacy strategies show similarities with previous research, while the latter also makes new contributions to the field. The novel findings that have not been discussed in the context of sustainability reports previously are customer demand, external action from governments, and the emphasis on technology and innovation paving the way for green growth. Furthermore, businesses are shown to pay little attention to barriers towards green growth and the findings give clear indication that companies are currently dedicated to the sustainability approach of green growth despite the lack of scientific evidence.

Sustainability is a highly relevant and debated topic. More companies disclose sustainability information and in 2017 it became mandatory for larger companies in Sweden to prepare a sustainability report. Some industries are considered more or less socially accepted. One industry that suffers legitimacy problems due to its business’ nature is the gambling industry. The gambling industry is associated with social issues, gambling addiction, corruption, and money laundering, which can be considered problematic from a legitimacy perspective. This study intends to increase the understanding of how Swedish gambling companies communicate negative aspects through sustainability reporting and what role sustainability reporting has in controversial industries, such as the gambling industry.  The study was conducted by a combination of an analysis of sustainability reports from Swedish gambling companies and interviews with audit professionals. The combination of different data sources intends to give a broad perspective and a deeper understanding for how negative aspects are communicated and the role of sustainability reports. The study finds that there is a clear pattern in how different legitimation strategies are used when disclosing certain negative aspects. This study also finds that sustainability reporting is considered as a communication tool even in controversial industries where manipulation is said to occur frequently.

Corporations are expected to be transparent on their sustainability impact and keep their stakeholders informed about how large the impact on the environment is, as well as their work on reducing the impact in question. The transparency is accounted for in a, usually voluntary, sustainability report additional to the already required financial report. With new regulations for mandatory sustainability reporting in Sweden, comprehensive and complete guidelines for corporations to follow are insufficient and the reports tend to be extensive. The reports are therefore hard to assess in terms of how well the reporting is actually done. The Sustainability Reporting Maturity Grid (SRMG) is an assessment tool introduced by Cöster et al. (2020) used for assessing the quality of sustainability reporting. Today, the assessment is performed manually which has proven to be both time-consuming and resulting in varying assessments, affected by individual interpretation of the content. This thesis is exploring how assessment time and grading with the SRMG can be improved by applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) on sustainability documents, resulting in a compressed assessment method - The Prototype. The Prototype intends to facilitate and speed up the process of assessment. The first step towards developing the Prototype was to decide which one of the three Machine Learning models; Naïve Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machines (SVM), or Bidirectional Encoder Representations of Transformers (BERT), is most suitable. This decision was supported by analyzing the accuracy for each model and for respective criteria in the SRMG, where BERT proved a strong classification ability with an average accuracy of 96,8%. Results from the user evaluation of the Prototypeindicated that the assessment time can be halved using the Prototype, with an initial average of 40 minutes decreased to 20 minutes. However, the results further showed a decreased average grading and an increased variation in assessment. The results indicate that applying NLP could be successful, but to get a more competitive Prototype, a more nuanced dataset must be developed, giving more space for the model to detect patterns in the data.

Sustainability reporting has been increasing in popularity in the last decade giving medium tolarge companies a tool to communicate with their users about their sustainability activity. Asglobalization and technology were introduced and increased in demand many violations startedby companies including human right violation, economic inequality, pollution, etc. Thisviolation led to different stakeholders demanding for companies be transparent and report ontheir sustainability activity through sustainability reporting.As sustainability reporting increased in popularity many challenges arose including a lack ofhomogeneity and comparability for the users and the firms themselves. Many standards andguidelines were created and are still being created to minimize the problem that firms,stakeholders, and auditors face. However, many standards and guidelines introduced lead tomaking the job of auditors more complex and harder as they must know and understand all thestandards available.Multiple studies were done regarding sustainability reports and the absence of one singleofficial standard. The studies explored the subject with interviews or case research tounderstand the consequence or effect that has on auditors and/or audit quality. Similar to thosestudies, this paper also follow the previous research by answering the following question thatwas posed by the authors: “What are the consequences of the absence of one single officialstandard in sustainability reporting on the audit quality?”. To answer this question, the authorsinterviewed 10 participants who work with auditing, accounting, and analyzing sustainabilityreports which helped the thesis with a practical contribution. Furthermore, the thesis alsocontributed to the knowledge by examining the results using Emergency Theory, LegitimacyTheory, and Complexity Theory. This thesis provides evidence regarding the consequence ofhaving multiple standards with low law requirements for sustainability reporting and why thereis a need for one single official standard.The findings of this thesis shows that auditors are face multiple challenges when it comes tonot having one official standard. The challenge affects the audit quality when auditingsustainability reports. The results show that sustainability is very multidimensional whichmakes the topic complex to auditors. Auditors also face the challenge of sustainability beingan emerging concept in the accounting domain which leads to not much research and theoriespresent to produce frameworks and standards for sustainability reports.

The new sustainability directive Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive [CSRD] isdescribed as the biggest thing that has happened since International Financial ReportingStandards [IFRS] was implemented in the reporting world. A watered-down Non-FinancialReporting Directive [NFRD] will be given new strength through CSRD, which entails higherand stricter requirements for reporting companies to report sustainability information to, amongother things, improve comparability and credibility, and as a step on the way to equatingsustainability reporting with financial reporting. A common way of explaining CSRD at theagency is "GRI on steroids" as a synonym for the higher and more comprehensive requirementsof the directive.This study has been carried out as a case study and aims to create an understanding of auditfirms' perceptions regarding the new sustainability directive CSRD and how they prepare forimplementation. But also, how audit firms are involved in the interpretation and design of thedirective. More precisely, the study has been carried out as a case study of the audit firm KPMG.The purpose of the study has been achieved by first carrying out text analysis which consistedof, among other things, EU documents regarding CSRD, web pages and newspaper interviews.In addition to text analysis, an observation was also carried out which consisted of a webinarfrom European Accounting Association [EAA]. Finally, six interviews were conducted withsustainability experts from KPMG who have extensive knowledge in sustainable business andwho work proactively in the field. Institutional theory has been combined with the threedifferent methods to be able to produce analyses regarding agencies' perceptions about thedirective.In conclusion, the study demonstrates the impact of institutional pressures where there arepressures from different market players pulling in different directions. The institutionalpressures, which are exerted by for example the reporting companies, their stakeholders, andaudit firms, reflect the different players’ interests. Because of these pressures, KPMG needs toadapt its operations to the new directive in order to remain competitive on the market. KPMGis also involved in shaping what the final draft of the directive and the new standards will be,as they are part of the Förenade Auktoriserade Revisorerna [FAR] and the European FinancialReporting Advisory Group [EFRAG] that work to develop and interpret the directive. Becauseof this and the size of the firm, KPMG is able to exert pressure on the standard setters to shapethe final draft of the CSRD in accordance with KPMG’s interests.