The evolution of sustainability reporting in the Finnish oil and energy sector - The case of Neste Oil Corporation
KRAIEM, NARJESS (2010)
2010
Yrityksen taloustiede, laskentatoimi - Accounting and Finance
Kauppa- ja hallintotieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Economics and Administration
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2010-06-03
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-20659
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-20659
Tiivistelmä
Since the early 1990s, more and more companies are voluntarily reporting about topics related to their social and environmental responsibility in order to keep the different stakeholders informed. Corporate social disclosures (CSD) can be defined as the provision of financial and non-financial information relating to an organization's interaction with its physical and social environment, as stated in corporate annual reports or separate social reports (Guthrie and Mathews, 1985). CSD includes details of the physical environment, energy, human resources, products and community involvement matters.
The important role of corporate social and environmental reporting, also referred to as sustainability reporting, has been since long acknowledged by the actors of the economic and political scene. However, it is also well recognized that the biggest gap in sustainability reporting is the absence of global, harmonized and compulsory standards/guidelines for reporting, as opposed to well established standards for financial reporting. This gap is real, serious and critical since the absence of such global set of formal standards unfairly offers a wide margin of freedom for the companies to include or omit at will any information from their reports. The body of existing reports becomes interesting to study not only for what companies are disclosing but also for what they are not disclosing. (Koehler & Chang, 1999).
The aim of this study is to investigate the evolution of social and environmental reporting, or sustainability reporting in the Finnish oil and energy sector through the case of the leading company in the sector, Neste Oil Corporation, during the period spanning the years between 1992 and 2008. Towards this goal, the sustainability reports related to this period have been carefully analyzed according to predefined criteria.
The results of the study show evidence of significant variation in the reporting practices of Neste Oil Corporation during the study period from 1992 to 2008. The findings demonstrate that the company's reporting evolved over four distinct periods or phases spanning intervals of few consecutive years. The grouping of similar reports is based on the correspondence of these reports with the following criteria: scope of the sustainability reports, dominant themes/topics in the reports, reporting framework utilized in the reports, stakeholders explicitly addressed in reports and the inferred perception of sustainability reporting in this period. The findings also confirm the urgent need for defining global compulsory standards for sustainability reporting, especially under the expanding threats posed by climate change.
Asiasanat:CSR, social and environmental reporting, sustainability reports, longitudinal study, Neste Oil
The important role of corporate social and environmental reporting, also referred to as sustainability reporting, has been since long acknowledged by the actors of the economic and political scene. However, it is also well recognized that the biggest gap in sustainability reporting is the absence of global, harmonized and compulsory standards/guidelines for reporting, as opposed to well established standards for financial reporting. This gap is real, serious and critical since the absence of such global set of formal standards unfairly offers a wide margin of freedom for the companies to include or omit at will any information from their reports. The body of existing reports becomes interesting to study not only for what companies are disclosing but also for what they are not disclosing. (Koehler & Chang, 1999).
The aim of this study is to investigate the evolution of social and environmental reporting, or sustainability reporting in the Finnish oil and energy sector through the case of the leading company in the sector, Neste Oil Corporation, during the period spanning the years between 1992 and 2008. Towards this goal, the sustainability reports related to this period have been carefully analyzed according to predefined criteria.
The results of the study show evidence of significant variation in the reporting practices of Neste Oil Corporation during the study period from 1992 to 2008. The findings demonstrate that the company's reporting evolved over four distinct periods or phases spanning intervals of few consecutive years. The grouping of similar reports is based on the correspondence of these reports with the following criteria: scope of the sustainability reports, dominant themes/topics in the reports, reporting framework utilized in the reports, stakeholders explicitly addressed in reports and the inferred perception of sustainability reporting in this period. The findings also confirm the urgent need for defining global compulsory standards for sustainability reporting, especially under the expanding threats posed by climate change.
Asiasanat:CSR, social and environmental reporting, sustainability reports, longitudinal study, Neste Oil