scholarly journals Understanding Sustainability Reporting in Non-Governmental Organisations: A Systematic Review of Reporting Practices, Drivers, Barriers and Paths for Future Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10184
Author(s):  
Ikenna Elias Asogwa ◽  
Maria Estela Varua ◽  
Peter Humphreys ◽  
Rina Datt
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Sustainable Societies ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Reporting Pattern

NGOs are expected by their social mission not only to assess but to report on sustainability issues in response to the growing public awareness of the sustainability agendas. Since NGOs are globally renowned as watchdogs for advancing socio-economic development and sustainable societies, research on their efforts in this regard will help develop recommendations on how they can be better positioned as the watchdog. The purpose of this article is to review and assess the understanding of sustainability (reporting) in NGO literature as well as the barriers and drivers. The study investigates various practices of sustainability and identifies the drivers and barriers in sustainability reporting (SR). The authors reviewed 61 articles published between 2010 and 2020 on sustainability and assessed the strengths and weaknesses in the understanding of sustainability in literature as well as the reporting phenomenon in NGOs. The misconceptions in the definition of SR tend to weaken its relevance and applicability, and the reporting process is often focused on demonstrating the legitimacy of NGOs rather than improving their performance. As such, it provides more evidence in support of the need for a more holistic and all-inclusive definition that will aid regulation and enforcement. We also found that, although it is often assumed all NGOs share similar objectives, it is not always the case as there are as diverse objectives as there are numbers of NGOs and their reporting pattern varies in accordance with this diversity. The review makes a case for a more comprehensive definition of SR suitable for NGOs using four elements as well as providing suggestions for where research in this area might focus to enhance the overall body of knowledge. The study contributes to theory and practice by introducing new elements guiding the definition of SR in NGOs which supports accountability and proper functioning of a circular economy and promotes sustainable development.

Exploring evidence to develop a nomenclature for forensic accounting

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vida Botes ◽  
Ahmed Saadeh
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Forensic Accounting ◽  
Financial Scandals ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose Large-scale financial scandals in business have increased public awareness of fraud and the need for forensic accounting (FA) services. Despite a steadily growing body of knowledge of FA, Huber (2012) argued that the term FA is ill defined. This paper aims to support the development of a nomenclature for FA by gathering evidence on the prevalence of the term in the Southern Hemisphere. Hence the authors ask how, when, where and in which context the term FA appears. In analysing the evidence gathered, the authors also aim to identify changes to the use of the term. Finally, they intend to make suggestions for future development and research relating to the term to advance knowledge. The authors also aim to suggest a definition for the term FA. Design/methodology/approach To obtain evidence to support the development of an accepted definition for FA, a rigorous search of the literature is performed, using a structured review framework. Findings The findings of this paper demonstrate the prevalence of the term FA in publications in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but that limited publications from SA create opportunities for researchers from emerging economies to publish in the FA field. This meta-analysis shows among others a strong focus on the role of FA in fraud prevention and increased reliance on websites (in contrast to reliance on academic literature) for information on FA. This research identifies changes to the use of the term and concludes that the narrow definition of FA prevails. Delivering on the third objective of this paper, the authors provide insights into future developments in FA and find that a need exists to explore FA in a much wider context. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Limitations exist in that the authors focused particularly on high-quality journals and excluded other journals from our search. As they were specifically searching for the use of the term “forensic accounting”, they excluded any other term, e.g. fraud auditing, from the research. Future research may well expand the search terminology. Practical implications Without an established definition of the commonly used term forensic accounting, the general public will be confused about the services that can be expected from forensic accountants. To date, FA definitions have been formulated mostly intuitively; however, if FA is to grow as a field, an accepted definition needs to be formulated. Social implications FA offers a new area of growth in the accounting field. Clarification of exactly what is meant by the term has implications for future careers in the field of accounting. Originality/value To date, no study of this nature has been undertaken anywhere in the world.

scholarly journals SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING PRACTICES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CEMENT INDUSTRY IN INDIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Cement Industry ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Corporate Activity ◽  
Cement Manufacturing ◽  
Reporting Pattern

Over recent years, there has been a focus in corporate activity upon the concept of sustainability reporting. Sustainability reporting has gained importance by Indian companies and corporates have adopted sustainability reporting practices since few years. Sustainability reporting of an organisations provides information about discharge of social reasonability and level of sensitivity of organisations towards social and environmental issues. Though sustainability reporting is not compulsory in the country many companies are reporting their initiatives in the direction of sustainable development. This paper attempt to evaluate sustainability reporting by leading Cement Manufacturing companies. This paper describes reporting pattern of cement industry in India.

scholarly journals Bouncing Back and Jumping Forward: Scoping the Resilience Landscape of International Sports Events And Implications for Events and Festivals

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Shipway ◽  
Lee Miles
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study

The purpose of this conceptual article is to critically scope the resilience landscape to help better understand how future studies on international sports events and venues could be informed by existing work in disaster management and resilience studies. The article suggests that within the differing benchmarks currently used to define and classify major international sports events, at present crises and disaster management considerations are largely ignored or underestimated. The article reviews previous research in crisis and disaster management, highlighting the potential for closer synergies between both sport and events studies and crisis and disaster management fields. It contributes new knowledge through the introduction of an international sports events (ISEs) resilience continuum to assist with better understanding resilience. The broader implications for events and festivals are highlighted. Although the interdisciplinary study of crisis, disasters, and emergency management has become increasingly sophisticated, the identification of synergies and useful concepts in relation to both sport and events studies to inform these areas is still at an early stage of development. This article adds to the limited body of knowledge on sports events resilience, and in doing so highlights potential avenues for future research in both sport and events, in terms of both theory and practice.

Organisations' Responsibilities towards Corporate Sustinability

2017 ◽  
pp. 790-804
Author(s):  
Arunasalam Sambhanthan ◽  
Vidyasagar Potdar
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Proper Definition ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Published Research

This paper analyses published literature to determine the organizational responsibilities towards business sustainability. Over two hundred published research papers in this space have been subjected to content analysis using NVivo qualitative analysis tool. The results reveal that there are three major types of responsibilities namely social responsibilities, environmental responsibilities and the role based responsibilities which the organizations have in terms of ensuring corporate sustainability. These responsibilities have been found to be effectively achieved through effective corporate sustainability reporting practices, policy level concerns backed by values and principles, coordination of consumer inputs, ensuring stakeholder understanding about their roles and responsibilities and effective risk management backed by proper definition of roles and responsibilities. A number of conclusions along with implications for practice have been derived as the outcome of the documented research.

scholarly journals Corporate Payments for Ecosystem Services in Theory and Practice: Links to Economics, Business, and Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8307
Author(s):  
Benjamin S. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Social License

Few Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are financed voluntarily by corporations. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that limited literature on the theory and practice of PES has a dedicated focus on businesses. This article unifies the PES and business literatures in order to address the awareness and management challenges that corporations face in engaging in PES. First, it shows how corporations fit into the economic theory that underpins PES, demonstrating that corporate-financed PES schemes can exhibit a diversity and hybridity of Coasean and Pigouvian characteristics. Second, it shows how PES fits into corporate sustainability theory, demonstrating how PES can help companies achieve synergies across the economic, environmental, and social tenets of the triple bottom line; for example, by helping gain social license to operate from adjacent communities, or by using PES to meet sustainability reporting requirements related to emissions and water management. Third, it shows the different PES options available to firms based on their industrial sector, operating practices, and business strategies. The options with higher potential are maintenance and enhancement of production inputs across the supply chain, and carbon offsetting and insetting to help meet climate change mitigation regulations and avoid fines. Fourth, it identifies lessons learned when transitioning from theory to practice by synthesising the latest empirical research on corporate-financed PES schemes—considering exactly what these ‘should’ or ‘could’ resemble, for example, in terms of their additionality, conditionality, permanence, co-benefits, budgeting, and bargaining. Examples are drawn from corporate-financed schemes in forests and watersheds across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The article concludes that these schemes remain small in number and size, but have significant potential to increase—and this can be aided by future research on corporate motives, understandings, and actions on PES.

From voluntarism to regulation: effects of Directive 2014/95/EU on sustainability reporting in the EU

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Ottenstein ◽  
Saskia Erben ◽  
Sébastien Jost ◽  
Carl William Weuster ◽  
Henning Zülch
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Information Quantity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
The Eu

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the effects of the European Non-financial Reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) on firms' sustainability reporting practices, especially reporting quantity (i.e. availability of information) and quality (i.e. comparability and credibility).Design/methodology/approachTo test the main hypotheses, the authors select 905 treated firms from the EU 28 + 2 countries for a difference-in-differences regression analysis of dependent variables from the Refinitiv ESG database.FindingsThe results suggest that the Directive influences sustainability reporting quantity and quality. Treated firms provide around 4 percentage points more sustainability information (i.e. availability) than propensity score matched control firms and are 19 percent more likely to receive external assurance (i.e. credibility). However, we also find that the Directive is not the decisive factor in the adoption of GRI guidelines (i.e. comparability).Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is restricted to large listed firms and does not account for small, mid-sized and private firms. Further, cross-cultural differences which influence sustainability reporting are controlled for but not investigated in detail. The authors derive several suggestions for future research related to the NFR Directive and its revision.Practical implicationsThe authors’ findings have practical implications for the future development of sustainability reporting in the EU and for other regulators considering the adoption of sustainability reporting.Originality/valueThis study is the first to provide evidence on the NFR Directive's reporting effects across multiple countries. It adds to the growing literature on the consequences of mandatory sustainability reporting. Additionally, this paper introduces a novel measurement approach sustainability information quantity that could benefit researchers.

Custom in the Islamic Legal Tradition

2015 ◽  
pp. 230-248
Author(s):  
Ayman Shabana
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article offers a survey of modern scholarship on the role of custom in the Islamic legal tradition. It begins with a definition of the concept of custom and also the relationship between the two Arabic terms used for custom, ‘urf and ‘ada. The relationship of custom to other terms such as sunna, ‘amal, and istihsan is also explored. The second, and main, part of the article traces the different approaches to the study of custom in Islamic legal studies and examines the development of these approaches. Four themes or debates are identified as the main contexts within which custom has been discussed: the origins of the Sunna of the Prophet and the early development of Islamic law; relationship between theory and practice; sources of Islamic law; and legal change. The article concludes with a summary and suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Water-related sustainability reporting practices amongst South African mining and non-mining corporations

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-123
Author(s):  
Nadia Latiff ◽  
Ferina Marimuthu
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Mining Companies ◽  
Selection Of

Globally, water resource management has emerged as an important research area and is acknowledged as a crucial factor in achieving sustainable development goals. Despite its significance, water-related sustainability disclosures regarding water and water-related risks among companies are alarmingly weak. Many companies are not effectively measuring, managing, and disclosing their water-related risks. Hence, this paper aims to analyze water-related reporting and disclosure requirements of a sample of ten South African mining and non-mining companies with a high water profile, listed on the JSE Socially Responsible Investment Index. The companies’ level of compliance on water disclosure was assessed based on their reporting in the integrated and or annual reports. The findings revealed that sampled five mining companies performed poorly in terms of disclosure across the frameworks of awareness, disclosure, management, and leadership. On the other hand, the selection of five non-mining companies grasped the severe effect of the water crisis on their businesses and performed better in all the framework categories. The average score for the selection of mining companies was 65% compared to the 93% for the non-mining companies. Stakeholders need to focus on water governance processes that require improvement to enable the stakeholders to make better decisions on water management; subsequently, this is an area that needs to be addressed in future research.

scholarly journals Physical Activity Maintenance: A Critical Narrative Review and Directions for Future Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan E. Rhodes ◽  
Wuyou Sui
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Behavioral Theories ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
Maintenance Process

A clear rationale can be made for promoting long-term regular physical activity (PA), yet despite some attempts to operationalize “maintenance,” no robust definition has been agreed upon, beyond arbitrary time frames of regular PA. This has likely impaired the advancement of theory and practice. The purpose of this critical narrative review was to first overview the conception of maintenance and co-requisite theoretical constructs in theories used in PA research. Our subsequent aims were to engage in a critical analysis of this literature to propose a working definition of PA maintenance followed by recommendations for future research. Relevant behavioral theories were parsed for references to maintenance or maintenance-specific constructs and constructs most likely associated with maintenance were overviewed from a recent systematic review. Based on this information, we suggest PA maintenance be operationalized as a process marked by a shift in the mechanisms of action determining behavioral performance, that engender greater perceived behavioral enactment efficiency. We suggest that maintenance should not be considered an absolute state of behavioral performance (e.g., a stage), as some constructs that were critical to behavioral performance during initiation will still be critical during PA continuation. Based on this definition, we propose a method of falsifiability hypothesis testing of theoretical constructs that may determine the maintenance process. Finally, the review concludes with suggestions for future research using this operationalization of maintenance including measure development, tests of latency to reach the peak maintenance process, validating constructs critical to determining maintenance, exploration of the contextual and individual moderators of maintenance formation, and the development of an omnibus dynamic model of initiation, continuation, and maintenance in PA behavior change.

Corporate tax disclosure on a CSR basis: a new reporting framework in the post-BEPS era

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 2167-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta De la Cuesta-González ◽  
Eva Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consensual Definition ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the emerging discourse on corporate taxation from a corporate social responsibility perspective to develop a consensual definition of corporate tax responsibility (CTR) and to identify a set of indicators that firms should publicly communicate to their stakeholders as an accountability mechanism. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with representatives of stakeholders closely related to taxation: tax authorities, companies, NGOs, tax advisors and academics. Based on a discourse analysis approach, data were coded and analyzed using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. Findings CTR is defined as the set of tax-related practices and policies that allow companies to pay a fair share of taxes as a function of the generated value in each jurisdiction in which they operate and to then publicly disclose them. Disclosure should cover disaggregated quantitative data and information on practices and policies. Originality/value Despite the wealth of research on sustainability reporting and increasing public awareness of tax aggressiveness and disclosure, academic research has not explored tax-responsible reporting. Moreover, no consensual definition of CTR has been formulated, and no indicators to properly account for responsible taxation have been identified. This paper contributes to filling these gaps by providing rich interview evidence regarding the nature of the emerging discourse on CTR reporting and a set of material indicators for CTR disclosure. This paper encourages researchers to foster the development of social accountability by engaging in future empirical studies of CTR.

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