1,720,995 research outputs found
L’evoluzione del principio di materialità nella rendicontazione di sostenibilità
No full textMateriality is a cornerstone of sustainability reporting, guiding companies in determining which sustainability information to disclose. Despite its extensive discussion in the literature, practical application, and codification in major sustainability reporting standards, sustainability materiality remains an ambiguous concept, lacking a clear and consistent interpretation regarding its scope, content, and application methods. This article traces the evolution of the materiality principle within sustainability reporting, analyzing the various interpretations it has assumed over time in parallel with changes in the objectives and audiences of sustainability reporting. The analysis delves into the historical context and theoretical underpinnings of materiality, its codification in reporting standards, and the shift toward a more integrated and holistic approach. Methodologically, the study employs a multi-faceted approach to explore doctrinal developments, codifications in reporting standards, and the regulatory landscape at both European and Italian levels. First, the international and national literature on materiality in sustainability reporting was examined to outline its theoretical framework, highlighting five key perspectives: materiality as the strategic relevance of sustainability issues; materiality as the relevance of sustainability information for users; materiality as a tool to counteract washing-strategies; materiality as a mechanism to enhance corporate value; materiality as a subjective process. Next, the professional codifications of materiality within sustainability reporting standards were analyzed, focusing on widely adopted frameworks at national and international levels. This section distinguishes between two dominant approaches in practice: impact materiality, which focuses on the impacts of corporate activities on society and the environment (externality disclosure), and financial materiality, which addresses how sustainability issues affect a company’s financial performance and success (sustainability-related financial disclosure). Finally, the principle of materiality is examined within European and national regulatory frameworks, with a focus on Italy’s Legislative Decree 254/2016 (implementing Directive 2014/95/EU, NFRD) and the Legislative Decree 125/2024 (implementing Directive (EU) 2022/2464, CSRD). The CSRD introduce the double materiality principle, mandating companies to integrate impact and financial materiality. This dual approach requires disclosure of both the significant impacts of corporate activities on sustainability issues and the financial risks and opportunities stemming from these issues. The evolution of the materiality principle enhances the transparency and accountability of sustainability reporting, advancing towards an integrated model of corporate reporting that combines externality disclosure with sustainability-related financial disclosure. This transformation is crucial for fostering resilient, future-oriented business strategies that align economic interests with societal and environmental issues
Ethical Analysis of Tax Avoidance
No full textThis encyclopedia voice provides an overview of the different forms of corporate tax avoidance and of the ethical argumentations advanced to support or ostracize the morality of this practice
Accounting for human rights: Evidence of due diligence in EU-listed firms’ reporting
Full text linkThis paper investigates the extent and the strategies of human rights due diligence (HRDD) disclosure by the largest 100 EU-listed firms. Our work is performed at a key point in time when institutional expectations to conduct HRDD are building, allowing us to assess firms’ readiness for emerging and forthcoming legally binding regulation in the EU. To analyse corporate disclosures, we develop a scoring tool based on the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). We interpret our findings building on Oliver’s (1991) theoretical framework of firms’ strategic responses to institutional pressures, as adopted in the context of social and environmental accounting and integrated with concepts from the literature on substantive and symbolic disclosure approaches. Our contributions advance the understanding of the ways that firms are engaging with the HRDD issue and the state or level of their engagement. We reveal three key HRDD disclosure strategies: dismissal, concealment, and compliance. The presence of the dismissal category is particularly significant, implying weak engagement with HRDD for many firms in our sample. Furthermore, we find that while many firms have a talk-orientation, where they communicate a commitment to protect human rights, the extent to which disclosures are action-oriented and detail the key practice of HRDD is significantly neglected. Important implications also follow for policymakers as our results can enhance the capability of new regulation to better enforce a strategic engagement outcome
Value‐enhancing drivers of corporate governance in improving human rights due diligence: Worldwide evidence
Full text linkThe study aims to investigate the role of corporate governance in driving effective human rights due diligence (HRDD) practises. The study tests the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on HRDD on an international sample of 509 listed companies operating in high-risk sectors included in the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark. Our findings show the positive effect of corporate governance on HRDD, suggesting that committed corporate governance, especially sustainability committee and board diversity, improves the effectiveness of HRDD carried out by companies. Our study contributes to the literature by providing insights into enhancement-based drivers of corporate governance, which positively impact HRDD. This research also has practical implications for companies because it can help them enhance their HRDD by establishing a sustainability committee or supporting gender diversity within the board. This research addresses social and policy implications considering the European directive on corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD), which mandates HRDD for large EU and non-EU companies
Fostering Social Impact Through Corporate Implementation of the SDGs: Transformative Mechanisms Towards Interconnectedness and Inclusiveness
Full text linkThe United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has considerable potential for achieving a more sustainable future. However, the concrete realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is impeded by how they are implemented by a diverse set of competent agents. This conceptual paper draws on social impact theory to investigate how businesses can utilise the SDG framework to achieve positive social outcomes. We identify two pathways that can guide businesses to improve their SDGs interventions, which entail considering the interconnections between the goals that are directly or indirectly affected by the initiative at stake and the inclusiveness of the actors affected by the SDGs. Building on the literature on hybrid organising (to frame interconnectedness) and the literature on multi-stakeholder partnerships and deliberative governance (to frame inclusiveness), we discuss a set of organisational mechanisms and transformations that can help businesses ensure that their SDGs interventions are more socially impactful. By doing so, this paper extends the literature on the role of companies for sustainable development and provides some practical implications
Corporate Tax Disclosure Strategies in Sustainability Reporting
No full textThis study examines tax disclosure strategies in sustainability reports. We develop a tax disclosure scoring framework and conduct a content analysis of 173 companies from the 2021 Fortune Global 250. We assess both the quantity and quality of tax disclosures and classify the underlying strategies using a framework of corporate responses to transparency demands. The findings reveal limited tax disclosure: 95 companies disclose some tax information, but only nine fully comply with the GRI Tax Standard. Dismissal emerges as the most common strategy (54 percent), followed by concealment (18 percent) and bargaining (14 percent). Only 14 percent of firms align with tax transparency expectations—9 percent partially through comprehensive qualitative disclosures and 5 percent with full compliance, including country-by-country data. These findings provide new insights into corporate tax responsibility and have implications for policymakers and managers seeking to enhance tax transparency and accountability
Sustainability Reporting: Conception, International Approaches and Double Materiality in Action
No full textThe book provides a comprehensive exploration of the the evolution in sustainability reporting and non-financial disclosure from three perspectives: regulatory, literary, and empirical. First, the book discusses the variety of frameworks and standards, normative sources, and regulatory initiatives aimed at promoting and standardizing sustainability reporting at the international level. Second, the book offers a systematic review of academic literature on sustainability reporting and non-financial disclosure. Third, the book examines the concept of materiality in sustainability reporting and provides an empirical analysis of the quantity and quality of materiality disclosures in sustainability reporting across the globe. The book concludes by discussing future directions for developments in sustainability reporting research and practice, and is relevant to academics, practitioners, and students interested in the intersection of sustainability, corporate reporting, and corporate finance
Virtue Ethics, Corporate Sustainability, and Tax Disclosure: Evidence From Global Fortune 500
Full text linkDrawing on virtue ethics, this paper explores how corporate virtues influence sustainability performance and whether this, in turn, affects tax disclosure. Using a sample of 339 companies from the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list, our findings indicate that corporate virtues significantly drive sustainability performance. Furthermore, companies with higher sustainability performance are more likely to include tax disclosures in their sustainability reports. The findings suggest that tax transparency is not merely a compliance-driven practice but a reflection of a company's commitment to the common good. By positioning tax disclosure as an extension of corporate virtues, this research enriches the discourse on sustainability reporting, offering valuable insights for policymakers, investors, and corporate leaders striving to align business success with societal impact
Determinants of sustainability reporting: A systematic literature review
No full textSustainability reporting has been widely acknowledged as a crucial corporate sustainability practice and recently received increasing attention from regulators, standard-setters, practitioners, and researchers. Motivated by the abundance of work, and the variety of theoretical perspectives and existing evidence, this paper explores how the research on sustainability reporting determinants has developed over time and what is known and not known about this topic. To address this question, we conducted a systematic literature review of articles on sustainability reporting determinants published in ABS-ranked journals between 2002 and 2021. Building on Lozano et al. (2015) framework of corporate sustainability theories, our findings provide an updated overview of factors driving sustainability reporting and the determinants still under debate. Furthermore, to fill existing gaps and inspire future research developments, findings suggest further work focus on non-listed companies, environmentally sensitive industries, underexplored geographical areas, and qualitative methods. Finally, the paper has implications for managers and policymakers
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