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In the U.S sustainability accounting reporting is developing and becoming more prevalent in public companies. This paper details accounting literature to present a comprehensive view of the landscape of sustainability accounting reporting. An archival analysis is used to summarize sustainability reporting as there is increased pressure on companies to consider their social and environmental impacts which is largely due to sustainability accounting reporting guidelines proliferation. Although U.S. Companies are not as far along in reporting sustainability issues, the current increase in sustainability reporting should lead to the pros over the cons for U.S. companies producing sustainability reports.
Keywords: sustainability, accounting, global reporting initiative, sustainability accounting standards board
INTRODUCTION
Corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and the '?iple bottom line" are all used interchangeably to describe a new companies and organizations reporting trend. Companies publishing Sustainability Reports has increased from 20% of the S&P 500 Index® in 2011 to 86% in 2018 (G&A, 2019, para. 2). With the rise of this trend comes an acknowledgment of the accounting standards that create sustainability reports now published by large companies in addition to their financial reports (Akisik & Gal., 2011, p. 304).
This reporting trend continues to rise due to the research-proven benefits: market performance is stronger in the short- and long-term (Du, Yu, Bhattacharya &Sen, 2017, p.313), equity capital costs are lower (Dhaliwal, Li, Tsang & Yang, 2011, p.59), and employee and customer relations and loyalty strengthen (EY & Boston College, ,2013, p.2).
The purpose of this paper is to detail the pros and cons of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or the "triple bottom line" and compare the popular global standards for sustainability reporting and the newly established standards for U.S. public companies. The guidelines included in this paper are the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Industry-Specific Standards. In addition, this paper takes a look at assurance in the realm of sustainability reporting.
Sustainability, and The "Triple Bottom Line"
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the efforts that companies, and organizations make that have a positive effect on society and lead to long-term benefits for the company or organization (Putrevu, McGuire, Siegel, & Smith, 2012, p.1,618). CSR can include topics such as ethics, philanthropy, governance, human rights, and efforts like...