The field of sustainability reporting has been studied for a number of decades but how companies respond to sustainability reporting regulations is still understudied. To lessen the gap, this thesis uses an institutional perspective to analyze how Swedish financial companies respond to the new regulation demanding all larger companies to disclose a sustainability report. The thesis takes a qualitative approach by conducting interviews at seven companies to investigate how institutional elements influences their sustainability disclosure processes. Findings show that the content of the reports is not largely affected due to normative elements providing a higher standard than the regulation demands. The reason for this can to a large extent be explained by the use of accepted frameworks which acts as the norm. The thesis also finds that though the content is not largely affected, the regulation affects the internal processes, requiring companies to examine and evaluate their existing sustainability agendas. The findings provide a complement to existing research that to a large degree consists of quantitative research as it illuminates how companies view their sustainability report and the reasoning for disclosing it. The influence of regulation on sustainability reporting is still an understudied subject and more research is needed to address this gap.

Sammanfattning  Titel: Hållbarhetsrapportering- en deskriptiv studie om skillnader mellan finans- och industrisektornNivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomiFörfattare: Amanda Johansson och Josefin WerkmästerHandledare: Fredrik Hartwig Datum: 2018 - januari Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala indikatorer undersöka skillnaderna i hållbarhetsrapporteringen mellan företag inom industrisektorn och finanssektorn i Sverige samt att undersöka om det har skett någon förändring över tid. Metod: I föreliggande studie antas en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en deduktiv ansats. Studien är kvantitativ och sekundärdata i form av hållbarhetsrapporter har samlats in från företagens hemsidor. En longitudinell design har använts där data från åren 2012 och 2016 har granskats. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att hållbarhetsrapporteringen skiljer sig åt mellan industri- och finanssektorn. Resultatet visar även att det har skett en förändring gällande rapporteringen över tid. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Framtida studier skulle kunna undersöka andra sektorer och avgränsa sig till en storlek. Det skulle även kunna göras en undersökning som fokuserar på kausala samband för att se vad skillnaderna kan bero på. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens bidrag är att den jämför skillnaderna mellan enbart två sektorer på den svenska marknaden då tidigare studier har gjorts i andra länder och på flera branscher. Nyckelord: CSR, GRI, hållbarhetsrapportering, indikatorer, sektorer, tid / Abstract Title: Sustainability reporting- A descriptive study on differences between the financial and industrial sectorLevel: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Amanda Johansson och Josefin WerkmästerSupervisor: Fredrik Hartwig Date: 2018 – January Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in sustainability reporting between companies in the industrial sector and the financial sector in Sweden based on economic, environmental and social indicators and to investigate whether there has been any change over time. Method: In this study, a positivist research philosophy is assumed with a deductive approach. The study is quantitative and secondary data in the form of sustainability reports have been collected from companies' websites. A longitudinal design has been used where data from 2012 and 2016 have been reviewed. Result & Conclusions: The study's results show that sustainability reporting differs between the industry and the finance sector. The result also shows that there has been a change in reporting over time. Suggestions for future research: Future studies could investigate other sectors and limit themselves to one size. It could also be a study focusing on causal relationships to see what the differences may be. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of the study is that it compares the differences between only two sectors in the Swedish market since previous studies have been conducted in other countries and in several industries. Key words: CSR, GRI, sustainability reporting, indicators, sectors, time.

As discussões da temática responsabilidade social corporativa (RSC) intensificaram-se nos últimos tempos. O processo de globalização e incremento de inovações tecnológicas estreitaram as barreiras, possibilitando troca de informações e desenvolvimento de novos modelos. Observa-se um pensamento crítico no processo produtivo das organizações, gerando cobranças por ações éticas e socialmente responsáveis tanto pelo Estado como pela sociedade. Neste contexto, a sustentabilidade perpassa do modelo individualista para um modelo de integração da empresa e as partes interessadas no negócio. A comunicação das práticas sociais ganha relevância e estruturam-se em relatórios de balanços sociais ou relatórios de sustentabilidade. Os relatórios evoluíram conforme o contexto histórico e a dialética da conceituação de RSC. Hoje, estes se encontram estruturados em diretrizes e indicadores para compreensão do público. Este estudo se propôs a verificar a evolução do grau de aderência plena (GAPIE-GRI) e o grau de evidenciação efetiva (GEE) aos indicadores de desempenho social (práticas laborais, trabalho decente e direitos humanos) das empresas brasileiras que publicaram o relatório de sustentabilidade GRI de 2007 a 2012, tendo como foco demonstrar o quanto do que foi requerido pelos indicadores de desempenho pelas Diretrizes da GRI foi realmente divulgado e quanto do potencial dessas informações foi efetivamente apresentado ao longo desse período. Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, descritivo, por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. A análise ocorreu por meio do cálculo dos índices GAPIE-GRI e GEE e da estatística descritiva para análise do perfil da amostra. A amostra representa 642 relatórios da GRI das empresas brasileiras distribuídos no período investigado, presentes no site oficial da instituição e/ou da empresa. Observou-se a presença significativa de empresas de grande porte e de setores energia e serviços financeiros. Os indicadores com maior representatividade em aderência plena durante o período pesquisado foi LA1, LA2, LA4 e LA10. Notou-se o aumento do percentual dos índices GAPIE-GRI e GEE, demonstrando uma evolução de baixa aderência e evidenciação efetiva para um grau mediano de aderência e evidenciação efetiva nos indicadores sociais da GRI. / The discussions of the theme corporate social responsibility (CSR) have intensified in recent times. The process of globalization and increasing technological innovations narrowed barriers, enabling information exchange and development of new models. There is a critical thought in the production process of the organizations, generating charges for ethical and socially responsible actions both by the State and society. In this context, sustainability permeates the individualistic model to a model of enterprise integration and business stakeholders. The communication of social practices becomes relevant and structured into sustainability reports. Reports have evolved as the historical context and the dialectics of conceptualizing RSC. Today, these are structured guidelines and indicators for public understanding. This study aimed to verify the evolution of the degree of adherence full (GAPIE-GRI) and the degree of effective disclosure (GEE) to the social performance indicators (labor practices and decent work and human rights) of Brazilian companies that published the report GRI sustainability from 2007 to 2012, focusing on demonstrating how much of what was required by the performance indicators by GRI Guidelines was actually released and how much potential this information was effectively presented throughout this period. This is a quantitative study, descriptive, through literature and documents. The analysis occurred by calculating the indices GAPIE-GRI and GEE analysis and descriptive statistics for the sample profile. The sample represents 642 GRI reports of Brazilian companies distributed in the investigated period, present on the official website of the institution and / or company. We observed a significant presence of large companies and financial services and energy sectors. The most representative indicators in full compliance during the period studied was LA1, LA2, LA4 and LA10. It was noted the increase in the percentage of indices GAPIE-GRI and GHG, showing an increase of low adherence and disclosure effective for moderate degree of adherence and effective execution of social indicators of GRI.

Stakeholder demands on transparency and ethical behaviour have quickly increased and today the majority of large Swedish companies publish some form of sustainability report. The construction- and real estate sector has large environmental impacts, but despite producing 40% of Sweden‟s energy use, material and waste sustainability reporting is not well established in the sector. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most widely used framework for sustainability reporting. GRI includes demands for stakeholder inclusiveness and stakeholder‟s reasonable expectations have to be taken into account in reporting. Studies of sustainability reports however reveal that companies often fail to address major impacts on sustainability in their sustainability reports. This thesis aims to evaluate stakeholder‟s role in reporting of sustainability as well as the potential role of the report for stakeholders by identifying their perception and expectations on Riksbyggens upcoming sustainability report. The theoretical framework consists of stakeholder theory focusing on Freeman and the descriptive school, sustainability reporting focusing on GRI and indicators focusing on sustainability indicators. A case study was conducted at Riksbyggen, a Swedish building, property management and residential services company. 93 surveys were collected, providing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. Results show that stakeholders play an important role in reporting of actual sustainability as demands reaches beyond GRI requirements, evaluated reports and company boundaries. The study however revealed a clear distinction between stakeholder groups‟ demands for information. Handling the diverging demands is in this case the most central challenge in the creation of an apt sustainability report.

Organizations around the world increasingly publish voluntary sustainability reports. Stakeholders want more information than financial statements, and environmental and social concerns have grown in the past two decades. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework for sustainability reporting is used by most organizations today. This is an analysis of the indicators in the GRI framework used to report on gender equality and diversity. I have used Carol Bacchi's method "What Is the "Problem" Represented to Be?" to discover how the "problems" of gender equality and diversity are presented in the framework and what effects those constructions of the problem might have.

Sustainability and sustainable development is an important topic for today’s society. To manage organizational sustainability, companies use sustainability reporting to measure their performance. A new EU directive [2014/95/EU] requires all companies who have 500 or more employees, to report on non-financial information. Hence, sustainability reporting becomes more institutional. A number of different frameworks exist to help companies to report on sustainability. The most prominent framework is provided by the Global Reporting Initiative [GRI], which helps companies to disclose information on economic, social, and environmental dimensions. As the forestry industry in Sweden and Finland has been considered important for future sustainable development, this industry has been the focus in the thesis. Previous research has focused on why companies report on sustainability. The purpose of this thesis was instead to research how companies report, by investigating the development process of sustainability reports in Swedish and Finnish forestry companies. Moreover, the purpose was to create an understanding of the sustainability report development in accordance with GRI guidelines, within Swedish and Finnish forestry companies. The research question is: How do Swedish and Finnish forestry companies develop sustainability reports in accordance with the GRI guidelines? To answer the stipulated research question, the thesis adopted a qualitative method with an abductive approach. Moreover, the thesis had an descripto-exploratory research design to find relevant knowledge and findings. The thesis theoretical framework introduced concepts related to our research question: sustainability reporting, the organization GRI and their guidelines, a reporting process that was retrieved from GRI’s handbook, and the forestry industry in Sweden and Finland. In addition to this, system-oriented theories such as legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and institutional theory were presented. Through seven semi-structured interviews, with various managers from Swedish and Finnish forestry companies, information about the companies’ sustainability report development was collected. The thesis identified several essential segments in the report development process. These included: reasons for using GRI, planning, stakeholder engagement, materiality, data collection, and reporting. We concluded that the phases of the process presented in the theoretical framework, instead were included in a continuous process where the phases turned to segments that were integrated with each other in the companies reporting practices.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om hållbarhetsrapporter används som ett kommunikationsverktyg i lika stor utsträckning vid mediala företagsskandaler som det görs i allmänhet genom att kommunicera ut såväl positiv som negativ information till företagets intressenter. Metod: Undersökningen har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsansats där en kvalitativ innehållsanalys har genomförts på insamlad sekundärdata i form av hållbarhetsrapporter från fyra företag. Empiri: Av empirin framgår en presentation av de fyra granskade bolagen. Där redogörs en djupgående och detaljerad beskrivning av företagens åtaganden och strategier innan och efter skandalen uppmärksammats i media samt en presentation av varje enskild skandal.Slutsats: Majoriteten av de granskade företagen använder sina icke-finansiella rapporter som ett kommunikationsverktyg vid bolagsskandaler för att kunna bemöta de anklagelser som riktats mot dem genom att presentera vidtagna handlingar efter inträffad medial skandal för att på så vis informera sina intressenter och genom detta bevisa sin legitimitet. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine if the sustainability reports are used as a communication tool to the same extent in connection with medial corporate scandals as in general by communicate both positive and negative information to the company’s stakeholders.Method: The study has been conducted with a qualitative research approach where qualitative content analysis has been used to analyze the collected data in the form of the companies sustainability reports.Empiricism: The empiricism shows a presentation of the four audited companies. It outlines a profound and detailed description of the companies commitments and strategies before and after the scandals attention in media and a presentation of each individual scandal.Conclusion: The majority of the audited companies use their non-financial reports as a communication tool in conjunction with corporate scandals to respond at the allegations directed against them by presenting actions taken after the medial scandal to inform their stakeholders and prove their legitimacy.

Background and Problem: Sustainability reporting is a growing trend in the society. One of the most exposed industries to environmental matters is the oil and gas industry, which commit to sustainability reporting in order to deal with the industry’s destructive operations. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provides voluntary guidelines in sustainability reporting, which increase transparency for the company’s stakeholders. However, it is controversial that the oil and gas industry put a great effort into sustainability reporting even though the industry is environmentally destructive. This gap is interesting to investigate and will contribute to the academic discussion. Therefore, this thesis will focus on the sustainability reporting in the oil and gas industry and to what extent the industry actually discloses material environmental information about their operations. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the sustainability reporting has changed in the oil and gas industry in Europe. This is performed from a stakeholder perspective. Further, it aims to investigate how oil and gas companies have followed the GRI guidelines and how the reporting has changed over time. Method: A quantitative method is used in order to answer the research questions. The data sample is based on oil and gas companies reporting according to the GRI framework during year 2012 to year 2014. The empirical data is gathered from the studied companies’ environmental category in their sustainability reports. Further, a content analysis technique, with a coding scheme, was set up to interpret and analyse the information. To enable an easy overview of the findings, the relevant data is presented in tables and diagrams. Empirical Findings and Conclusion: The majority of the studied companies have increased their level of compliance in the environmental category. Although, the majority of the companies have increased their reporting, the compliance level differs between the companies. The most reported sectors are the; “Water”, “Biodiversity”, “Emissions”, “Effluents and Waste”, “Compliance”, and “Overall”. Further, the empirical findings show that there is an overall increase in the amount of disclosed information per indicator. The conclusion of this thesis is that the environmental disclosures have increased in the oil and gas industry from year 2012 to 2014.

The purpose of this study was to explore users' and preparers' perception of sustainability reporting, especially for accountants and financial analysts who are involved with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and GRI based sustainability or CSR reports in the United States. With the increasing trends to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is important to understand what level users and preparers currently hold towards the sustainability reporting. This study used samples from the following resources: all companies included in the GRI report list as a report preparer group and financial analysts as report users, whose companies' core business focused on social and environmental investing. This study examined four hypotheses concerning general corporate sustainability & reporting and sustainability performance indicators in environmental, economic and social aspects suggested by the GRI Guidelines. This paper contributes to corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting. This paper studied users' perception of sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Prior research mainly focused on preparers' perception or attitudes toward sustainability reports (Guthrie & Parker, 1990; Kolk, 2004; Lindgreen et al., 2009; White, 2005). Also, this paper adds to the literature on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its guidelines that have not been extensively studied in prior research. The results revealed that users and preparers agreed on the important issues asked for the general corporate sustainability and reporting, and both groups held similar attitudes towards the environmental, economic and social performance indicators and felt most of them as important to be included in a sustainability report. In addition, both groups indicated the GRI as the preferred standard setting body for sustainability reporting and gave support to GRI for its effort to establish and promote the standards for sustainability reporting. Finally, a considerable number of users and preparers agreed that the GRI report can fairly measure a company's environmental, economic and social performance.

Abstract Background: The perceived importance of sustainability has left its mark on organizations. The demand for sustainability reports is growing. The question whether these sustainability reports provide an authentic, or alternatively, an embellished picture of how sustainable a company is, seems interesting.  There is no clear definition of what good or bad sustainability would be, and as such, one could argue that companies are considered to be sustainable, or not, depending on other companies in the same industry. The importance of whether sustainability reports are inter-firm comparable rises in compliance with the importance of sustainability itself. This paper attempts to further investigate the inter-firm comparability aspect by using the latest standards from the GRI, namely the GRI Standards that launched in 2016.  Purpose: Comparability seems to be a natural way of determining whether a company is sustainable or not. The quality of the sustainability reports therefore diminishes, if the inter-firm comparability between them, is lacking. Hence, the thesis has the purpose of determining whether sustainability reports are inter-firm comparable.    Method: This study utilized the GRI database in order to filter and select a population of companies. Seven companies in the European chemical sector were chosen, and a content analysis, where the different firms' responses to 34 selected indicators were analysed and interpreted using the scope of the Stakeholder theory, the Functionalist perspective & the Critical perspective. Conclusion: The inter-firm comparability of the seven companies' sustainability reports, who all used the GRI Standards, was found to be insufficient. This paper adds to previous research which also found inter-firm comparability between sustainability reports conducted according to earlier versions of the GRI framework to be inadequate. The main issues observed were results of differences in how the indicators were answered, sometimes quantitatively, sometimes qualitatively, as well as the amount of superfluous information provided.