Sustainability Reporting and Analysis

This assignment delves into the realm of sustainability reporting, focusing on Woolworths Limited as a case study. Students are tasked with analyzing Woolworths' 2017 Sustainability Report through the lens of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. The assignment encourages an understanding of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept – encompassing social, environmental, and financial performance – and its influence on businesses like Woolworths. Key aspects to be explored include Woolworths' sustainability initiatives, their impact on stakeholders, and the company's commitment to economic, social, and environmental well-being.

Running head: ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS
Accounting for Management Decisions
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS
Question 2
Answer to [a]
Triple Bottom Line (TBL) refers to a particular accounting framework having three major parts;
they are social, environmental and financial. It has been seen that there are many companies around the
globe have adopted the framework of TBL to measure the performance to create greater business value
(Willard 2012).
Answer to [b]
The reasons are as follows:
 Sustainability reporting is a major tool for the companies to build trust among the shareholders.
The adoption of the strategies of sustainability reporting shows the concern of the companies for
the environment, community and people of community. This aspect helps in the creation of
goodwill for the companies in market (Junior, Best and Cotter 2014).
 Sustainability reporting helps the business organizations in the establishment of effective
corporate governance strategies. The companies are able to interact with various stakeholders of
the companies with the help of different elements of sustainability reporting. It helps in the flow
of information from the side of the companies to the stakeholders. For this reason, many
companies are choosing to issue sustainability reporting (Junior, Best and Cotter 2014).
 Sustainability reporting provides the companies with necessary competitive advantage. As the
customers become more concerned about environment, they prefer the companies having reported
sustainability report on a yearly basis. This is another reason for the adoption of sustainability
reporting for most of the companies.

2ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS
Answer to [c]
The vision of GRI is to develop a growing global community that will lift humanity and will
enhance the resources required for living.
The mission of GRI is to bring empowerment in decisions for environmental, social and
economic benefits (globalreporting.org 2017).
According to GRI, with the help of various sustainability strategies, it will be possible to adders
various sustainability issues like climate change, human rights, governance and social well-being.
Answer to [d]
In Australia, Woolworths Limited is well known for their sustainability reporting practice. Thus,
the Sustainability Report of Woolworths of 2017 is selected. The sustainability report of Woolworths is
selected as the company develops their sustainability report based on the principles of GRI framework.
It can be seen that Woolworths has been able to implement sustainability in all of their business
activities. In Woolworths, sustainability and corporate responsibility refers to do the right thing. The three
focus of the sustainability reporting of Woolworths are People, Planet and Prosperity. Various
sustainability initiatives of Woolworths like making the supply chain more sustainable, reduction in
carbon footprint encourage the development of community people and others are proof of Woolworths’
sustainability approaches. In addition, Woolworths has adopted many strategies to implement
sustainability in every aspect of their business by the year 2020. Apart from this, Woolworths has been
able to create positive impact on the economic condition of the country (woolworthsgroup.com.au 2017).
Thus, in the above-discussed ways Woolworths has been able to implement sustainability in every aspect
of their business.

3ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONS
References
Globalreporting.org. (2017). About GRI . [online] Available at:
https://www.globalreporting.org/Information/about-gri/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].
Junior, R.M., Best, P.J. and Cotter, J., 2014. Sustainability reporting and assurance: A historical analysis
on a world-wide phenomenon. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), pp.1-11.
Willard, B., 2012. The new sustainability advantage: seven business case benefits of a triple bottom line.
New Society Publishers.
Woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2017). [online] Available at:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/189425_corporate-responsibility-report-2017.pdf
[Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].