A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 30 October 2014. / The reporting of non-financial data has steadily increased over the past three decades and there
is evidence that including social and environmental indicators in the annual report is correlated
with improved environmental performance of listed companies. The annual reports of a selection
of 82 JSE-listed companies, including the full JSE Top 40, were analysed for mentions of the
natural environment for the reporting periods of 2010 and 2012. The introduction of the King III
principles by the JSE occurred between these two periods, providing an opportunity to assess the
impacts that this move had on annual reporting. Attention was paid to mentions in the leadership
reviews by the Chairmen and the CEOs, presence of empirical environmental data, environmental
KPIs and the manner in which these data were presented and discussed in the report. In addition,
a survey asking qualitative details of company reporting policy was conducted among the staff
members responsible for environmental reporting of these companies. The standard and
sophistication of environmental reporting varied widely across the sample, with Top 40 companies
generally reporting better than non-Top 40 companies. Primary industries were more likely to
provide empirical data than service industries and only agricultural industries appeared concerned
with the manner in which changes in the natural environment could affect their business. There
remains a wide variation in the type and detail of environmental reporting across the sample with
very little evidence that the data, as reported, play a meaningful role in the decisions of either
management or investors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/16830 |
| Date | 30 January 2015 |
| Creators | Gear, Simon |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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