Contemporary Accounting Theory Report 2022

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ACCT20074 Contemporary Accounting Theory

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Section 1: Executive Summary
The main aim of this report is to review the literature review on importance of corporate
social responsibility within the modern business era in order to fulfill the requirements of all the
stakeholders. On the basis of overall review of literature present in selected journal that CSR
disclosures are highly important for the reporting entities as they deliver their products and
service to society through using their own resources. Sustainability reporting requirements as
prescribed by GRI guidelines aims to provide performance of company towards various
indicators of sustainability and also discloses information on material aspects that impacts the
performance of the company. In this report CYBG Plc has been selected to review its disclosure
made on behalf of its sustainability performance.

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Table of Contents
Section 1: Executive Summary........................................................................................................2
Section 2: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
Section 3: Part A: Theoretical Knowledge......................................................................................4
(i) Literature Review for explaining the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
in firms to improve the financial objectives.................................................................................4
(ii): Comparison of Sustainability reporting to other Reporting Concepts Providing Complete
View of CSR activities of businesses..........................................................................................5
(iii): Explanation of the theories relevant for explaining the significance of sustainability
reporting.......................................................................................................................................6
Section 4: Part B: Application of Theoretical Knowledge for Explaining Reporting Practices of
CYBG Plc Cdi 1:1 Foreign Exempt LSE........................................................................................7
(iv): Company Brief about its ownership, governance and financial performance.....................7
(v): Use of Global Reporting Guidelines to prepare the sustainability reporting scoring index. 8
(vi): Extent and quality of disclosure of sustainability reporting of the selected company
according to the GRI scoring index...........................................................................................13
Section 5: Conclusion....................................................................................................................14
Section 6: References....................................................................................................................15

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Section 2: Introduction
The report is developed to analyze and examine the importance of corporate social
responsibility measures that a business organization should adopt for maximizing the faith and
interest of its stakeholder members. The significance of sustainable reporting for providing a
complete view of CSR activities of a firm has also been discussed within the report. The
significance of sustainability reporting is discussed in the context of stakeholder and resource
based theories. In addition to this, the report ahs also examined the annual report of a selected
ASX listed entity, that is, CYBG PLC (CYB) for determining its governance outlook and the
nature of sustainability reporting as per the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines.
Section 3: Part A: Theoretical Knowledge
(i) Literature Review for explaining the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) in firms to improve the financial objectives
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be regarded as an internal business strategy
used by businesses for incorporating the social and environmental concerns in its different
activities and behave in a responsible manner towards all its stakeholders. There is high pressure
on the business companies nowadays to develop their goods and services in a socially
responsible manner from all of its stakeholders. This is because the rising concerns about the
damage caused to our ecosystem due to negative influences of business operations is causing the
need for them to conduct their different activities in a responsible manner. The CSR activities
that are measures undertaken by businesses to increase their social, economic and environmental
performance is leading to improving the integrity in the business operations in the mind of its
different stakeholders ((Porter & Kramer, 2010). This increased satisfaction of the stakeholders
helps in improving the firm performance by enhancing its goodwill and brand image leading to
higher sales and profits. Also, the businesses are able to enhance their competitive position
which in turn promotes their long-term growth and development (Deegan, 2014).
The businesses have placed less importance on incorporation of CSR activities within
their strategic objectives initially as they believed that it would lead them to incur additional
costs and can have a negative impact on their profitability. However, with the growing concerns
regarding the social and environmental impact of businesses and the increasing pressure from
stakeholders has caused the need for them to integrate CSR strategies as an integral part of their
corporate strategies (Nikolova & Arsic, 2017). The business companies around the world has
identified the importance of integration of CSR activities for improving their competitive
position by achieving increased customer satisfaction that in turns helps in improving the
financial performance. The customers around the world are becoming largely aware of the social
and environmental issues that are resulting due to negative impact of the business operations. As
such, there is increasing trend among them to consume the products or services that have been