Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Reporting: A Case Study of IGO Group

Accounting Theory & Contemporary Issues
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Executive Summary
The present report has been developed for analyzing the importance of corporate social
responsibility for business firms to meet the interests of all its stakeholders. In this context, it has
been illustrated through the overall analysis that CSR disclosures is important for firms to
achieve stakeholders satisfaction that in turn assist them to achieve the financial objectives.
Also, GRI standards are providing adequate guidelines for businesses to develop their
sustainable reports. The selected ASX listed entity, IGO, has also adequately developed and
disclosed its sustaible reports as per the GRI guidelines.
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 4
Part A: Theoretical Knowledge....................................................................................4
(i) Undertaking a review of literature for gaining an understanding of importance
of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in firms operating with financial objectives
................................................................................................................................ 4
(ii) Explanation of sustainability reporting representing a holistic view of CSR in
contrast with relevance to other reporting concepts...............................................6
(iii) Identification and Explanation of Two Theories depicting the significance of
sustainable reporting.............................................................................................. 7
Part B: Application of theoretical knowledge to explain reporting practices..............8
(iv)Company Introduction including reviewing of its history, ownership,
governance and financial performance...................................................................8
(v) Sustainability Reporting Disclosure Scoring Index as per the GRI (Global
Reporting Initiative) Guidelines............................................................................. 10
(vi) Evaluation of sustainability reporting practices of IGO Group to the extent of
sustainability reporting scoring index as described in B (v) part...........................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 14
References............................................................................................................... 15
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Introduction
The businesses around the world with the advent of globalization are seeking to expand
their products and services across the world for generating large amount of revenue and
improving their profitability position. The rapid expansion of businesses can have major negative
impact on the society and environment in which they operates and therefore it is becoming
highly essential for them to report their performances in these contexts also besides providing
financial reports. As such, the businesses are focusing on developing their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) reports that disclose information about their social, economic and
environmental performance. In this context, the report intends to conduct a research on the
importance of CSR within businesses and the evolution of sustainable reporting for disclosing
the information about CSR initiatives of businesses. The theories relevant to sustainable
reporting has also been discussed in the report. The next section of the report has analyzed the
sustainability reporting practices of an ASX listed company, that is, IGO (Independence Group)
as per the GRI guidelines. The overall data for conducting the research in the report has been
gathered with the use of secondary methods that is extracting information from journal’s, books,
annual report and online websites in reference to the research issues.
Part A: Theoretical Knowledge
(i) Undertaking a review of literature for gaining an
understanding of importance of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) in firms operating with financial objectives
Asemah Okpanachi & Edegoh (2013) has stated that the concept of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) is continuing to grow in importance in the context of business
organizations. It is becoming a prominent business ideology as it drawing the need for businesses
to meet the expected social and environmental standards and becoming responsible not only for
its shareholders but also their nearby communities. The increase in the global competition is
causing the need for companies to implement the use of adequate business strategies that enables
them to achieve a distinctive competitive advantage. As such, the businesses are placing large
importance of promoting their social and environmental performance as to achieve a positive
brand image in the eyes of all its stakeholders (Asemah Okpanachi & Edegoh, 2013). The
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