IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aes/amfeco/v3y2013ispecial7p729-742.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Plurality or convergence in sustainability reporting standards?

Author

Listed:
  • Nadia Albu

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Catalin Nicolae Albu

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Madalina Dumitru

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

  • Valentin Florentin Dumitru

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

Abstract

Over the last years an increasing number of companies issued Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Sustainability Reports to complement their traditional financial reporting. Companies use various sustainability reporting standards or develop their own reporting frameworks starting from the existing ones. This variation of practices pointed out by empirical research raises questions about the quality and comparability of sustainability reporting, its role in the sustainable development, and also about the suitability of accepting the plurality of reporting frameworks or the need for convergence. This study aims to investigate the issues of plurality and convergence in sustainability reporting standards, by mobilizing the discourses on regulation and the case of a group of companies in the IT industry in order to shed some light on the current challenges in this area. We frame a discussion on the opportunities and pitfalls of convergence in sustainability reporting regulations and contribute to a better understanding of this issue by academics, preparers, users and standard setters.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadia Albu & Catalin Nicolae Albu & Madalina Dumitru & Valentin Florentin Dumitru, 2013. "Plurality or convergence in sustainability reporting standards?," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(Special 7), pages 729-742, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:3:y:2013:i:special7:p:729-742
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_1237.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pascale Delvaille & Gabi Ebbers & Chiara Saccon, 2005. "International Financial Reporting Convergence: Evidence from Three Continental European Countries," Post-Print halshs-00280474, HAL.
    2. Botzem, Sebastian & Quack, Sigrid, 2009. "(No) Limits to Anglo-American accounting? Reconstructing the history of the International Accounting Standards Committee: A review article," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 988-998, November.
    3. Joseph, George, 2012. "Ambiguous but tethered: An accounting basis for sustainability reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 93-106.
    4. Sunder, Shyam, 2002. "Regulatory competition among accounting standards within and across international boundaries," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 219-234.
    5. Camelia I. Lungu & Chiraţa Caraiani & Cornelia Dascălu, 2011. "Research on Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(29), pages 117-131, February.
    6. Andrew, Jane & Cortese, Corinne, 2013. "Free market environmentalism and the neoliberal project: The case of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 397-409.
    7. J.P. Gond & A. El Akremi & J. Igalens & V. Swaen, 2011. "A corporate social responsibility," Post-Print hal-00826426, HAL.
    8. Charles Cho, 2009. "Legitimation Strategies Used in Response to Environmental Disaster: A French Case Study of Total SA's Erika and AZF Incidents," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 33-62.
    9. Robert G. Eccles & Michael P. Krzus & Jean Rogers & George Serafeim, 2012. "The Need for Sector-Specific Materiality and Sustainability Reporting Standards," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 24(2), pages 65-71, June.
    10. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2011. "The Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Harvard Business School Working Papers 11-100, Harvard Business School, revised Oct 2012.
    11. Donna L. Street, 2012. "IFRS in the United States: If, When and How," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 22(3), pages 257-274, September.
    12. Corina Joseph & Ross Taplin, 2011. "The measurement of sustainability disclosure: Abundance versus occurrence," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 19-31, March.
    13. Joseph, Corina & Taplin, Ross, 2011. "The measurement of sustainability disclosure: Abundance versus occurrence," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 19-31.
    14. Bebbington, Jan & Kirk, Elizabeth A. & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2012. "The production of normativity: A comparison of reporting regimes in Spain and the UK," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 78-94.
    15. Pascale Delvaille & Gabi Ebbers & Chiara Saccon, 2005. "International Financial Reporting Convergence: Evidence from Three Continental European Countries," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 137-164, January.
    16. Voicu-Dan Dragomir & Elena Roxana Anghel (Ilcu), 2011. "Social Responsibility Practices Regarding Facilities Granted to Employees and Consumer Protection in Selected European Companies," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(29), pages 86-103, February.
    17. Cuganesan, Suresh & Guthrie, James & Ward, Leanne, 2010. "Examining CSR disclosure strategies within the Australian food and beverage industry," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 169-183.
    18. Bengtsson, Elias, 2011. "Repoliticalization of accounting standard setting—The IASB, the EU and the global financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 567-580.
    19. Erlend Kvaal & Christopher Nobes, 2012. "IFRS Policy Changes and the Continuation of National Patterns of IFRS Practice," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 343-371, August.
    20. Suresh Cuganesan & James Guthrie & Leanne Ward, 2010. "Examining CSR disclosure strategies within the Australian food and beverage industry," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3-4), pages 169-183, September.
    21. Matthew V. Tilling & Carol A. Tilt, 2010. "The edge of legitimacy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(1), pages 55-81, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:aud:audfin:v:20:y:2018:i:49:p:667 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Maria-Silvia Sandulescu & Drago? Andrei Stoica & Catalin-Nicolae Albu & Nadia Albu, 2018. "Types of Intellectual Capital Employed in Bioeconomic Projects – A Longitudinal Case Study," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 20(49), pages 667-667, August.
    3. Ion Ionascu & Mihaela Iona?cu, 2018. "Business Models for Circular Economy and Sustainable Development: the Case of Lease Transactions," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 20(48), pages 356-356.
    4. Mansour Stoian Lăcrămioara & Spătariu Elena Cerasela, 2023. "Green Accounting and Reporting – Achievements So Far and Opportunities Ahead: Critical Research of Sustainability Reports of Romanian Companies," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 728-740, July.
    5. Annalisa Baldissera, 2023. "Sustainability reporting in banks: History of studies and a conceptual framework for thinking about the future by learning from the past," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2385-2405, September.
    6. Mariana Man & Maria-Mădălina Bogeanu-Popa, 2020. "Impact of Non-Financial Information on Sustainable Reporting of Organisations’ Performance: Case Study on the Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Radka MacGregor Pelikánová & Robert K. MacGregor, 2020. "The EU Puzzling CSR Regime and the Confused Perception by Ambassadors of Luxury Fashion Businesses: A Case Study from Pařížská," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2020(3), pages 74-108.
    8. Ioana Sofian & Mădălina Dumitru, 2017. "The Compliance of the Integrated Reports Issued by European Financial Companies with the International Integrated Reporting Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-16, July.
    9. repec:aud:audfin:v:20:y:2018:i:48:p:356 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Viorel Avram & Daniela Artemisa Calu & Valentin Florentin Dumitru & Mădălina Dumitru & Mariana Elena Glăvan & Gabriel Jinga, 2018. "The Institutionalization of the Consistency and Comparability Principle in the European Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-24, December.
    11. Radka MacGregor Pelikánová, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility Information in Annual Reports in the EU—A Czech Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    12. Daniel Zdolšek & Sabina Taškar Beloglavec, 2023. "Sustainability Reporting Ecosystem: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Overhaul during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    13. Radka MacGregor Pelikánová & Tereza Němečková & Robert K. MacGregor, 2021. "CSR Statements in International and Czech Luxury Fashion Industry at the Onset and during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Slowing Down the Fast Fashion Business?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    14. Nicoleta Cristache & Marian Nãstase & Radu Petrariu & Margareta Florescu, 2019. "Analysis of Congruency Effects of Corporate Responsibility Code Implementation on Corporate Sustainability in Bio-Economy," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 21(52), pages 536-536, August.
    15. Higgins, Colin & Tang, Samuel & Stubbs, Wendy, 2020. "On managing hypocrisy: The transparency of sustainability reports," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 395-407.
    16. Elena NECHITA, 2021. "The Value Relevance of Non-Financial Reporting in Determining the Market Value of Equity," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 19(162), pages 320-320, May.
    17. Dragos Andrei Stoica, 2021. "General Opinions about the Adoption of IAS/IFRS in Romania," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 24(82), pages 132-139, December,.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Madalina Dumitru & Nadia Albu & Valentin Florentin Dumitru & Catalin Nicolae Albu, 2014. "Practices Regarding the Forms of Communication with the Consumers used by a Multinational Company at Global and Local Level," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(35), pages 1-41, February.
    2. Ismail N.B. & Sébastien Alcouffe & Galy N & Ceulemans K, 2020. "The impact of international sustainability initiatives on Life Cycle Assessment voluntary disclosures: The case of France’s CAC40 listed companies," Post-Print hal-03082800, HAL.
    3. Nobes, Christopher & Stadler, Christian, 2013. "How arbitrary are international accounting classifications? Lessons from centuries of classifying in many disciplines, and experiments with IFRS data," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 573-595.
    4. Ramona Zharfpeykan, 2021. "Representative account or greenwashing? Voluntary sustainability reports in Australia's mining/metals and financial services industries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2209-2223, May.
    5. Hirsch, Julia & Walz, Uwe, 2019. "The financing dynamics of newly founded firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 261-272.
    6. Mantzari, Elisavet & Georgiou, Omiros, 2019. "Ideological hegemony and consent to IFRS: Insights from practitioners in Greece," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 70-93.
    7. Sommer, Florian & Klink, Jeanette & Senkl, Daniela & Hartmann, Monika, 2015. "Determinants of Web-based CSR Disclosure in the Food Industry," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, January.
    8. Walid Guermazi, 2023. "International financial reporting standards adoption in the European Union and earnings conservatism: a review of empirical research," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 200-211, June.
    9. Mohamed Chelli & Sylvain Durocher & Anne Fortin, 2018. "Normativity in Environmental Reporting: A Comparison of Three Regimes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 285-311, May.
    10. Albu, Cătălin Nicolae & Albu, Nadia & Alexander, David, 2014. "When global accounting standards meet the local context—Insights from an emerging economy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 489-510.
    11. Rita Almeida & José Ángel Pérez-López & Rute Abreu, 2022. "Digital Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in the Water Industry," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(11), pages 3929-3947, September.
    12. José Ramón Sánchez-Serrano & David Alaminos & Francisco García-Lagos & Angela M. Callejón-Gil, 2020. "Predicting Audit Opinion in Consolidated Financial Statements with Artificial Neural Networks," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-14, August.
    13. Charles H. Cho & Jonathan Maurice & Emmanuelle Nègre & Marie-Anne Verdier, 2016. "Is environmental disclosure good for the environment? A meta-analysis and research agenda," Post-Print halshs-01369422, HAL.
    14. Palea, Vera, 2014. "Are IFRS value-relevant for separate financial statements? Evidence from the Italian stock market," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-17.
    15. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    16. Olaf Weber & Grace Saunders‐Hogberg, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility, water management, and financial performance in the food and beverage industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1937-1946, July.
    17. Lars Moratis & Max van Egmond, 2018. "Concealing social responsibility? Investigating the relationship between CSR, earnings management and the effect of industry through quantitative analysis," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Breeda Comyns, 2016. "Determinants of GHG Reporting: An Analysis of Global Oil and Gas Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 349-369, June.
    19. Tiffany Cheng-Han Leung & Robin Stanley Snell, 2021. "Strategies for Social and Environmental Disclosure: The Case of Multinational Gambling Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 447-467, January.
    20. Philipp Borgstedt & Ann-Marie Nienaber & Bernd Liesenkötter & Gerhard Schewe, 2019. "Legitimacy Strategies in Corporate Environmental Reporting: A Longitudinal Analysis of German DAX Companies’ Disclosed Objectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 177-200, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainability reports; sustainability reporting standards; plurality; convergence; IT companies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:3:y:2013:i:special7:p:729-742. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Valentin Dumitru (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.