Standardization of sustainability reporting: rationale for better investment decision-making

  • Received February 15, 2017;
    Accepted May 8, 2017;
    Published May 29, 2017
  • Author(s)
    Henry Mynhardt , ORCID Researcher ID ,
    E-mail:
    Alex Plastun
    ORCID Researcher ID
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/pmf.06(2).2017.01
  • Article Info
    Volume 6 2017, Issue #2, pp. 7-15
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The role of sustainability reporting in investment decision-making is not clear and obvious. Despite the steady increase of such statements in corporate annual reports, the relationship between the sustainability reporting and the financial performance of companies is not always positive. The main problems of sustainability reporting nowadays are insufficient comparability of reporting, accuracy (lack of materiality, reliability and validity of indicators), lack of common approaches for its verification.

Synthesis of standardization and regulation features of sustainability reporting, which is provided in this paper in different dimensions (countries, regulators standards), allows to identify long-term trends of this reporting to ensure its quality during investment decision-making in traditional and responsible financial markets.

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    • Fig. 1. Instruments of standardization and regulation in SR by the company types in 2016
    • Table 1. Problematic areas of SR presentation
    • Table 2. The number of regulatory instruments used in the SR all over the world, period 2013-2016
    • Table 3. Countries with the biggest portion of SR in annual reports of the companies and mandatory requirements used for these purposes
    • Table 4. Regulatory instruments for mandatory SR disclosure in financial sector
    • Table 5. Exchanges with ESG reporting as a listing rule as of 01/01/2017
    • Table 6. SR standards all over the world in 2006-2016 as of 01/01/2017
    • Table 7. Regulatory instruments for assurance of SR