Business Sustainability, Corporate Governance, and Organizational Ethics

CHAPTER 10Emerging Issues in Sustainability Performance, Reporting, and Assurance

1. Introduction

Business sustainability is gaining considerable attention as socially responsible investors prefer to invest in sustainable and socially responsible corporations while regulators worldwide recommend and/or demand that public companies disclose their nonfinancial dimensions of sustainability performance in areas of governance, social, ethical, and, environmental (GSEE). Business sustainability with a keen focus on the achievement of long-term stakeholder value creation is gaining momentum with investors with long-term investment horizons and business organizations that value their customers’ satisfaction, employees’ welfare, and social and environmental responsibilities. Business organizations worldwide will be encouraged and/or required to disclose their nonfinancial GSEE performance along with financial economic sustainability performance. This chapter presents future trends in sustainability performance, reporting, and assurance worldwide by exploring the best practices of sustainability in moving toward the achievement of profit- with-purpose companies, the use of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in sustainability reporting, and the application of continuous auditing for sustainability assurance.

Learning Objectives

• Provide an overview of the best practices of sustainability performance reporting and assurance.
• Understand the methodology for generating a proper ...