Organisationers sociala ansvarstagande har på senare tid blivit allt mer uppmärksammat, speciellt inom detaljhandeln. CSR-arbete har blivit viktigt för samhället vilket påverkar verksamheters arbete med detta. Således har även medierapporteringen beträffande deras sociala ansvarstagande ökat. Hur kan detta påverka organisationerna och deras rapportering kring socialt ansvarstagande? I samband med att CSR har blivit ett välkänt begrepp som allt fler verksamheter arbetar med har även begreppet CSI vuxit fram. Det handlar om att organisationer arbetar på ett ansvarslöst sätt i syfte att uppnå legitimitet. Företag är beroende av sina intressenter som i sin tur kan påverkas av media. Det ligger alltså i deras intresse att förmedla en positiv bild till sin omvärld och kan göra det genom att bland annat upprätta hållbarhetsredovisningar. Syftet med denna studie var att bidra med kunskap kring hur ett publikt företag med många intressenter arbetar med socialt ansvarstagande och hur de påverkas av medias rapportering angående det. Vi har utfört en kvalitativ studie där vi analyserat 15 hållbarhetsrapporter som upprättats av H&M mellanåren 2002–2016. Det har vi gjort med hjälp av en innehållsanalys där vi utformat ett kodningsschema. Vi valde att söka på centrala begrepp och undersökte hur många gånger dessa förekom i H&Ms hållbarhetsrapporter. Vi har även analyserat medias rapportering gällande företagets sociala ansvarstagande. Vår teoretiska referensram består av forskningsom behandlar begreppen CSR, CSI, intressenter, legitimitet, hållbarhetsrapportering samt media. Vi presenterar en analysmodell som fungerade som en utgångspunkt då vi med hjälp av denna satte vår empiri i förhållande till den teoretiska referensramenoch har därefter fört en diskussion kring detta. Empirin består av vårt utformade kodningsschema samt material som är hämtat från media och H&Ms hemsida. Tillsammans med den teoretiska referensramen utgör dessa grunden för vår diskussion och slutsats. Vår huvudsakliga slutsats är att organisationens hållbarhetsrapportering främst påverkas av intressenternas krav och önskemål. Vi har inte kunnat identifiera en större påverkan från medias sida på verksamhetens rapportering gällande CSR vilket styrker detta påstående. / Corporate social responsibility has recently become increasingly important, especially in the retailing sector. It has also become more important to the society which affects how organisations choose to work with this. Therefore, media reporting on corporate social responsibility has also increased. How can this affect organisations and their CSR-reporting? Corporate social responsibility has become a well-known concept that corporations have adapted, a consequence of this is that the concept of CSI has emerged. This means that corporations are working in an irresponsible manner to achieve legitimacy. Organisations are dependent on their stakeholders, which in turn may be affected by the media. Thus, it is in the interest of businesses to convey a positive image to the society, which can be done by producing sustainability reports. The purpose of this essay was to contribute with knowledge about how a public organisation with many stakeholders workswith CSR and how they are affected by the media's reporting regarding this. We have conducted a qualitative study where we analysed 15 sustainability reports produced by H&M between 2002-2016. We have done this by conducting a content analysis where we developed a coding scheme. We searched for key concepts and examined how many times these occurred in the sustainability reports. We also analysed the media reporting on H&M's corporate social responsibility. Our theoretical framework consists of research that addressed the concepts CSR, CSI, stakeholders, legitimacy, sustainability reportingand media. We also present an analysis model that served as a starting point, with this weput our empirical data in relation to the theoretical framework and afterwards we conductedan analysis based on this. Our empirical study consists of our coding scheme and material from media and H&M's website. This, together with the theoretical framework, forms the basis of our discussion and conclusions. Our main conclusion was that the corporations' sustainability reporting is primarily influenced by the demands of stakeholders. We have not been able to identify a greater impact from the media regarding the organisations sustainability reports, which reinforces this statement.

Bakgrund: På global nivå har det vuxit fram en debatt avseende hållbar utveckling. Företag började aktivt arbeta för att främja denna utveckling, vilket gjorde att hållbarhetsredovisning som frivillig rapportering kom att utvecklas Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka varför noterade fastighetsbolag hållbarhetsredovisar, hur innehållet i deras hållbarhetsredovisningar ser ut samt vilka incitament de har för att upprätta hållbarhetsredovisningar. Vidare syftar den till att jämföra dessa incitament med dem för bolag i andra branscher som studerats. Den syftar även till att utröna hur bolagen ställer sig till lagstiftning om hållbarhetsredovisning fr.o.m. 2017. Slutligen syftar den till att utröna huruvida bolagen idag använder sig av frivilliga redovisningsnormer, särskilt GRI:s riktlinjer för hållbarhetsredovisning. Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på kvalitativ metod och baseras dels på studier av bolagens hållbarhetsredovisningar för 2015, dels en enkät till elva fastighetsbolag, noterade på Nasdaq Stockholm OMX. Enkäten besvarades av sju av bolagen och innefattade huvudsakligen frågor om vilka incitament bolagen har för att avge hållbarhetsredovisningar, samt deras inställning till den kommande lagstiftningen. Resultat: Sex av sju respondenter har angivit att efterfrågan från ägare, samt bidrag till långsiktig lönsamhet utgör viktiga incitament för hållbarhetsredovisning. Dessa incitament angavs också i studierna av livsmedelsbranschen, telekombranschen samt klädbranschen. Fastighetsbranschen särskiljer sig dock från de tre andra branscherna genom att fyra av sju bolag uppger ansvarstagande för samhälle och miljö som incitament, vilket också återspeglades i hållbarhetsredovisningarna. Nio av elva bolag hållbarhetsredovisar enligt GRI:s riktlinjer, då de är de mest vedertagna inom branschen. Synen på den kommande lagstiftningen avseende hållbarhetsredovisningen, som fyra bolag gav är att den ligger i tiden samt sätter fokus på hållbarhetsfrågan ur ett affärsmässigt perspektiv. / Background: At the global level, a debate on sustainable development has emerged. Companies started to actively promote this trend, which enabled the development of voluntary sustainability reporting. Aim: The study aims to examine why listed real estate companies publish sustainability reports, what information is included in these reports and what incentives the companies have to issue sustainability reports. Furthermore, it aims to compare these incentives with those of companies in certain other industries. It also aims to determine the companies´ positions on the legislation concerning sustainability reports, coming into effect in 2017. Finally, it aims to establish whether the companies currently use voluntary reporting standards, particularly the GRI guidelines for sustainability reporting. Method: The thesis uses a qualitative method and is based on studies of each company's sustainability report for 2015 and a questionnaire sent to eleven real estate companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. The questionnaire was answered by seven of the eleven companies and included questions concerning what incentives companies have to issue sustainability reports, as well as their attitude towards the future legislation. Results: The two incentives for establishing sustainability reports that were stated by most, six of the seven, of the respondents, were the demand from owners and the contribution to long-term profitability. These incentives were also reported regarding companies in the food industry, the telecommunications industry and the clothing industry. The real estate companies are distinguished from the other three industries due to the fact that four of the seven respondents named society and the environment as incentives. Ten of the eleven companies published sustainability reports that declared what actions the company had taken in order to build a sustainable society. All eleven companies published sustainability reports that declared what actions that had been taken in order to decrease the companies’ environmental effects. Nine of the eleven companies publish sustainability reports following the directions outlined in GRI guidelines. The companies use these guidelines, as they are the most recognized in the industry. Four of the eleven companies gave their views on the upcoming Swedish act regarding sustainability reports. Their view is that the act reflects the global discussions and that it shows that sustainability issues are important from a business perspective.

Background: Sustainability in business has become an essential part for firms to consider, as stakeholder’s concerns are increasing, and the use of ESG scores has increased in the last years. Prior research mostly examines the European and US market and the relationship between ESG score and financial performance. Hence, a gap regarding ESG scores effect on stock performance, and possibilities for sustainable strategic management, was found on the Indian market as an emerging economy.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between ESG, stock performance, and sustainability reporting of Indian companies. Thus, enable a deeper understanding of the impact of sustainable development on firms.  Method: This research has followed positivism and social constructionism, with a deductive approach, and both a quantitative and qualitative method. Purposive sampling is used, by collecting the stock prices, volatility and ESG scores for firms from the index Nifty 50. Two portfolios were conducted from the samplings, representing the firms with the highest and the lowest ESG scores, along with an analysation of the individual companies. The data were analysed in STATA by an OLS regression analysis and Pearson correlation test, to test the hypotheses. Observations of the firm’s sustainability reports were analysed to gather their sustainable actions.  Conclusion: The results indicated that ESG have a positive effect on stock prices, on the Indian market. Thus, firms would benefit from achieving a higher ESG-score. However, due to varying results regarding volatility, results could not be determined whether firms achieve any improved stability from a higher ESG score. The findings also show that there are differences between high and low ESG scored firms regarding SDGs, policy frameworks, anti-corruption and the ESG approach. Which indicate opportunities for Indian firms to develop their sustainable actions, to increase value creation for stakeholders.

Over more than forty years many proposals have been drawn up to complement, integrate and overcome the traditional methodologies measuring the financial dimension of corporate performance. In parallel, thousands of companies, and especially the listed ones, have introduced, developed and implemented different practices of non-financial reporting. So, what is the state of the art with regard to the most important initiatives aimed at supporting companies in managing social, environmental and sustainability performance? And, what are the current corporate approaches to sustainability evaluation and reporting? In order to answer the two research questions, the study introduced a collaborative paradigm, based on a relational view of the firm, which recognizes the strategic value of stakeholder relationships. The stakeholder framework (that is, the multiple bottom line approach) is the lens adopted to conduct the study. With regard to the first question, a broad and up-to-date review of the most important standards and tools – aimed at managing, controlling, evaluating, and reporting the social, environmental and sustainability performance of companies – has been carried out. In reference to the second question, a qualitative content analysis, based on an interpretive perspective, of the current corporate practices has been conducted. The investigation mainly explored the social/CSR/sustainability reports of sixteen leading companies from four crucial industries (i.e., four firms per each of the four industries: banks, retailing, telecommunications, and utilities). In comparison with previous contributions in this area, the analysis is characterized by depth (that is, the number of items checked for every company), breadth (i.e., the number of stakeholders and documents/information sources covered), and complexity because of the interpretive nature. What emerged from the overall study is that, because of several and different reasons (essentially, complexity and the still prevailing focus on financial value for management tools; redundancy and incompleteness for corporate reports; and lack of innovation, that is, isomorphism, for both), the prevailing methodologies and the corporate evaluation and reporting activities are unable to fully assess the sustainability, that is, the quality, of the corporate relationships with the stakeholder groups. Therefore, in order to fill the gap new solutions are needed. As an attempt to address this point and reconnect theory and practice, a sustainability evaluation and reporting system, that is, the SERS2 methodology, characterized by an innovative, stakeholder-based scheme of integrated report, has been advanced.

O aumento significativo da deterioração das condições ambientais e sociais em muitas partes do mundo indicam que a sustentabilidade como um todo pode estar ameaçada. Assim a sustentabilidade empresarial tornou-se um objetivo bastante almejado e de fundamental importância não só para as empresas que sofrem constantes pressões sociais, mas também para toda a humanidade. Por esses motivos, cada vez mais empresas estão adotando relatórios de sustentabilidade para demonstrar seu engajamento com a sustentabilidade empresarial. Para tanto, é preciso utilizar indicadores adequados para a mensuração de desempenho dessas organizações em relação à sustentabilidade. Assim, esta dissertação analisou relatórios de sustentabilidade e identificou que o relatório de sustentabilidade GRI vem sendo utilizado não apenas como um relatório de transparência mas como um certificador, portanto tem como objetivo avaliar se o GRI pode ser analisada como ferramenta adequada para a caracterização de empresas brasileiras enquanto sustentáveis, por meio de revisão bibliográfica, pesquisa em modelos de indicadores de sustentabilidade e análise dos relatórios das seis empresas brasileiras atestadas como A+. Como resultado desta pesquisa verificou-se que o GRI deve ser melhorado em vários e importantes aspectos para que possa ser usado como certificador da Sustentabilidade Empresarial. / The significant increase of deteriorating environmental and social conditions in many parts of the world indicate that sustainability as a whole may be threatened. Thus corporate sustainability has become a very desired objective and of fundamental importance not only for companies that suffer constant social pressures, but also for all mankind. Thus, seek sustainability has come to represent a real need for organizations to be able to survive. For these reasons more and more companies are adopting sustainability reports to demonstrate their commitment to corporate sustainability. Thus, this dissertation examined sustainability reports and identified the GRI sustainability report has been used not only as a transparency report but as a certifier therefore aims to evaluate whether the GRI can be considered as suitable tool for characterizing companies while Brazilian sustainable, through literature review, research on models of sustainability indicators and analysis of the reports of the six Brazilian companies certified as A +. As a result of this research it was found that the GRI should be improved in several important respects so that it can be used as certifier Corporate Sustainability.

O crescente número de empresas brasileiras que preparam e divulgam voluntariamente relatórios de sustentabilidade, bem como as motivações propostas pela Teoria da Legitimidade para a adoção dessa prática, causam questionamentos a respeito da idoneidade da informação oferecida. Dessa maneira, o presente trabalho investigou se os gráficos apresentados nos relatórios de sustentabilidade publicados por cinquenta empresas brasileiras de capital aberto foram utilizados como ferramentas para o gerenciamento de impressões, sendo manipulados de forma a melhorar a apresentação do desempenho obtido por essas organizações e auxiliar em seus processos de legitimação. A amostra final compreendeu 3.422 informações gráficas e as análises realizadas abrangeram duas formas de gerenciamento de impressões por meio do uso de gráficos abordadas na literatura: a seletividade e a distorção de medidas. Os resultados encontrados, embora explicativos, não forneceram evidências seguras de que os gráficos identificados foram empregados como ferramentas para o gerenciamento de impressão. Apesar da predominância da utilização de gráficos para a representação de notícias positivas e das distorções de medidas físicas identificadas, as evidências conduzem com maior segurança para a interpretação de que tais resultados decorrem de um despreparo e/ou desatenção dos responsáveis pela elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade. / The growing number of Brazilian companies that voluntarily prepare and disclose sustainability reports, and the reasons proposed by the Legitimacy Theory for the adoption of this practice, lead to questions about the trustworthiness of the information offered. Thus, the present study investigated whether the graphs in sustainability reports published by fifty publicly traded Brazilian companies were used as tools for managing impressions, being manipulated in order to improve the presentation of the performance achieved by these organizations and assist in process of legitimation. The final sample consisted of 3,422 raphical information and the analyzes encompassed two forms of impression management through the use of graphs addressed in the literature: selectivity and measures distortion. The results, although explanatory, did not provide good evidence that the identified graphs were used as tools for managing print. Despite the prevalence of the use of graphs to represent positive news and distortions of physical measurement distortions identified, the evidence leads to more safely to the interpretation that such results derive from of a lack of both preparation and/or attention of those responsible for the preparation of sustainability reports.

Title: Sustainability accounting - A qualitative study about the understanding, usefulness and relevance of sustainability reporting based on an employee perspective. Problematization: There has been previous research about sustainability reporting through an external point of view. There is however a gap in research about sustainability reporting from an employee perspective. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a better comprehension of how employees perceive the information presented in sustainability report and if they feel that the report is aimed for them or external stakeholders. Frame of reference: This episode began with previous research about the three qualitative characteristics that are used when creating a financial report. The framework of GRI is also presented. Lastly the stakeholder theory and stakeholder dialogue are introduced. Method: This study has a qualitative approach where 10 semi-structured interviews have been held to collect data. Research: The employees have a better understanding of the information related to the social and environmental issues. Furthermore they only consider the information regarding the environment to be useful in their daily work. The employees believe that the environmental and social part of the report is relevant while the economic could not be assessed by the employees. Conclusions: Diagrams, thorough explanations and knowledge of the subject increased the understanding of the report. The economical part can be further understood if there is more extensive content. The information becomes useful when they can directly use it in their daily work and when they feel that the information is aimed for them. They need to receive the information through meetings for it to be useful for them. They had little previous knowledge of the economical part and were there for not able to assess the relevance of the report's content while the environmental and the social area were relevant because the content has currently been highlighted in newspapers and debates.

O crescente número de empresas brasileiras que preparam e divulgam voluntariamente relatórios de sustentabilidade, bem como as motivações propostas pela Teoria da Legitimidade para a adoção dessa prática, causam questionamentos a respeito da idoneidade da informação oferecida. Dessa maneira, o presente trabalho investigou se os gráficos apresentados nos relatórios de sustentabilidade publicados por cinquenta empresas brasileiras de capital aberto foram utilizados como ferramentas para o gerenciamento de impressões, sendo manipulados de forma a melhorar a apresentação do desempenho obtido por essas organizações e auxiliar em seus processos de legitimação. A amostra final compreendeu 3.422 informações gráficas e as análises realizadas abrangeram duas formas de gerenciamento de impressões por meio do uso de gráficos abordadas na literatura: a seletividade e a distorção de medidas. Os resultados encontrados, embora explicativos, não forneceram evidências seguras de que os gráficos identificados foram empregados como ferramentas para o gerenciamento de impressão. Apesar da predominância da utilização de gráficos para a representação de notícias positivas e das distorções de medidas físicas identificadas, as evidências conduzem com maior segurança para a interpretação de que tais resultados decorrem de um despreparo e/ou desatenção dos responsáveis pela elaboração dos relatórios de sustentabilidade. / The growing number of Brazilian companies that voluntarily prepare and disclose sustainability reports, and the reasons proposed by the Legitimacy Theory for the adoption of this practice, lead to questions about the trustworthiness of the information offered. Thus, the present study investigated whether the graphs in sustainability reports published by fifty publicly traded Brazilian companies were used as tools for managing impressions, being manipulated in order to improve the presentation of the performance achieved by these organizations and assist in process of legitimation. The final sample consisted of 3,422 raphical information and the analyzes encompassed two forms of impression management through the use of graphs addressed in the literature: selectivity and measures distortion. The results, although explanatory, did not provide good evidence that the identified graphs were used as tools for managing print. Despite the prevalence of the use of graphs to represent positive news and distortions of physical measurement distortions identified, the evidence leads to more safely to the interpretation that such results derive from of a lack of both preparation and/or attention of those responsible for the preparation of sustainability reports.

O aumento significativo da deterioração das condições ambientais e sociais em muitas partes do mundo indicam que a sustentabilidade como um todo pode estar ameaçada. Assim a sustentabilidade empresarial tornou-se um objetivo bastante almejado e de fundamental importância não só para as empresas que sofrem constantes pressões sociais, mas também para toda a humanidade. Por esses motivos, cada vez mais empresas estão adotando relatórios de sustentabilidade para demonstrar seu engajamento com a sustentabilidade empresarial. Para tanto, é preciso utilizar indicadores adequados para a mensuração de desempenho dessas organizações em relação à sustentabilidade. Assim, esta dissertação analisou relatórios de sustentabilidade e identificou que o relatório de sustentabilidade GRI vem sendo utilizado não apenas como um relatório de transparência mas como um certificador, portanto tem como objetivo avaliar se o GRI pode ser analisada como ferramenta adequada para a caracterização de empresas brasileiras enquanto sustentáveis, por meio de revisão bibliográfica, pesquisa em modelos de indicadores de sustentabilidade e análise dos relatórios das seis empresas brasileiras atestadas como A+. Como resultado desta pesquisa verificou-se que o GRI deve ser melhorado em vários e importantes aspectos para que possa ser usado como certificador da Sustentabilidade Empresarial. / The significant increase of deteriorating environmental and social conditions in many parts of the world indicate that sustainability as a whole may be threatened. Thus corporate sustainability has become a very desired objective and of fundamental importance not only for companies that suffer constant social pressures, but also for all mankind. Thus, seek sustainability has come to represent a real need for organizations to be able to survive. For these reasons more and more companies are adopting sustainability reports to demonstrate their commitment to corporate sustainability. Thus, this dissertation examined sustainability reports and identified the GRI sustainability report has been used not only as a transparency report but as a certifier therefore aims to evaluate whether the GRI can be considered as suitable tool for characterizing companies while Brazilian sustainable, through literature review, research on models of sustainability indicators and analysis of the reports of the six Brazilian companies certified as A +. As a result of this research it was found that the GRI should be improved in several important respects so that it can be used as certifier Corporate Sustainability.

Sustainability assurance is on the uprising. Nowadays, more and more companies are thinking about sustainability which resulted in a growing market for sustainability assurance. The global reporting initiative (2013, p.6) defines sustainability assurance as “the use of external, independent reviews of sustainability management processes and final disclosures is intended to increase the robustness, accuracy and trustworthiness of disclosed information.”. Unlike financial auditing, sustainability assurance ismostly unregulated and there are various guidelines and frameworks issued to help the assurance provider. The lack of mandatory regulations has resulted in a fragmented assurance environment where different approaches is used by different assurance providers. This in turn has contributed to the sustainability assurance process being unknown. The uncertainty around sustainability assurance affect the usersof the assurance report, for example stakeholders’, which can find it difficult to identify, interpretand compare the results of the sustainability assurance.The purpose of this study is to contribute to the limited knowledge on sustainability assurance, by investigating the sustainability assurance from both auditors’ and non-auditors’ perspectives.To assist in fulfilling the purpose, four main themes were developed; assurance team, assurance process, assurance report and the future of sustainability assurance. To fulfill the purpose of this study, the research questions are;“What is the audit process of sustainability reports?”“What does the sustainability assurance team look like?”“What does the sustainability assurance report look like?”The result in this study suggests that the process of sustainability assurance looks different depending on the assurance provider. The findings also suggest that the assurance team almost looks the same, regardless who is the assurance provider. When it comes to the results regarding the assurance report, it is evident that there are many ways to improve theusefulness and informativeness of the report. Furthermore, the findings of this study contribute to the limited knowledge of sustainability assurance by thoroughly exploring the assurance process.