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A Preliminary Analysis of SASB Reporting: Disclosure Topics, Financial Relevance, and the Financial Intensity of ESG Materiality

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  • Cristiano Busco
  • Costanza Consolandi
  • Robert G. Eccles
  • Elena Sofra

Abstract

At the end of 2018, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) released its corporate reporting standards for material environment, social, and governance (ESG) issues. These SASB standards are analogous to FASB's but deal with ESG activities that help the companies create value over the long term and have been endorsed by large asset management firms such as BlackRock. The authors analyze the quality of ESG reporting by the 91 companies that adopted SASB's framework. While the number of such companies is still small, their results are encouraging, an indication of better things to come. Using three measures of effectiveness, Disclosure Topic Compliance Index (DTCI), Financial Relevance Compliance Index (FRCI), and Financial Intensity Compliance Index (FICI), the authors found that most companies are doing a good to very good job of reporting and companies tend to focus on measures with the highest financial relevance. Scores on these three measures were similar across industry sectors except for a few cases where the DTCI score is low. They presented cases of three SASB standard companies: 1) Sunrun, a residential solar panel company that uses some hazardous materials, 2) Suncor, an integrated oil and gas company, and 3) Target, a retail company in a highly competitive industry needing to keep costs low while also managing an extensive supply chain responsibly. These 91 companies have demonstrated that reporting according to SASB standards can be done well. This success should encourage other companies to follow and the authors offer a seven‐step process to adopt SASB standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristiano Busco & Costanza Consolandi & Robert G. Eccles & Elena Sofra, 2020. "A Preliminary Analysis of SASB Reporting: Disclosure Topics, Financial Relevance, and the Financial Intensity of ESG Materiality," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 32(2), pages 117-125, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jacrfn:v:32:y:2020:i:2:p:117-125
    DOI: 10.1111/jacf.12411
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    1. Rodrigo Zeidan, 2022. "Why don't asset managers accelerate ESG investing? A sentiment analysis based on 13,000 messages from finance professionals," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3028-3039, November.
    2. Guler Aras & Ozlem Kutlu Furtuna & Evrim Hacioglu Kazak, 2024. "SDG Impact Index with Double Materiality Perspective: Evidence from OECD Commercial Bank Industry," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 967-1006, September.
    3. Jianzhuang Zheng & Muhammad Usman Khurram & Lifeng Chen, 2022. "Can Green Innovation Affect ESG Ratings and Financial Performance? Evidence from Chinese GEM Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-32, July.
    4. Thomas A. Tsalis & Maria Terzaki & Dimitrios Koulouriotis & Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis & Ioannis E. Nikolaou, 2023. "The nexus of United Nations' 2030 Agenda and corporate sustainability reports," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 784-796, April.
    5. Martins, Henrique Castro, 2023. "Financial materiality and corporate risk: Evidence from an Instrumental Variables (IV) design," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    6. Michele Molin & Lisa Pizzol & Marco Pesce & Alessandro Maura & Matteo Civiero & Elisa Gritti & Simone Giotto & Alberto Ferri & Lorenzo Liguoro & Carlo Bagnoli & Elena Semenzin, 2023. "An integrated decision‐making framework for corporate sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1145-1160, May.
    7. Miseldra Gil-Marín & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz & Nicolás Contreras-Barraza & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda & Sandra Vera-Ruiz & Analia Verónica Losada, 2022. "Sustainability Accounting Studies: A Metasynthesis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Esmee M. Veenstra & Naomi Ellemers, 2020. "ESG Indicators as Organizational Performance Goals: Do Rating Agencies Encourage a Holistic Approach?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Arie Pratama & Edi Jaenudin & Syaiful Anas, 2022. "Environmental, Social, Governance - Sustainability Disclosure Using International Financial Reporting Sustainability Standards S1 in Southeast Asian Companies: A Preliminary Assessment," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 456-472, November.
    10. Erhemjamts, Otgontsetseg & Huang, Kershen & Tehranian, Hassan, 2024. "Climate risk, ESG performance, and ESG sentiment in US commercial banks," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    11. Soh Young In & Young Joon Lee & Robert G. Eccles, 2024. "Looking back and looking forward: A scientometric analysis of the evolution of corporate sustainability research over 47 years," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2225-2259, May.

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