Importance of Sustainability Reporting in Modern Day Business

Running head: CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING THEORY
Contemporary Accounting Theory
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CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING THEORY1
Executive Summary
This report consists of two main parts. The first part deals with the identification of the
importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting amongst the
modern day businesses. After which, the importance of sustainability reporting in providing a
holistic view on CSR is explained through the help of the stakeholder and the legitimacy
theories. The second part of the report starts off with an introduction of the company Pact Group
Holdings. After this, a scoring index on sustainability reporting is created by following the
Global Reporting Index (GRI) guidelines. The quality of the reports of the entity Pact Group is
assessed against the above score index to estimate the quality of the sustainability reporting of
the entity. The report ends with an overview of the learnings of the report.

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING THEORY2
Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Part A...............................................................................................................................................2
Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility...........................................................................2
Sustainability Reporting and CSR...............................................................................................3
Important theories related to sustainability reporting..................................................................4
Part B...............................................................................................................................................5
Introduction of the company........................................................................................................5
Sustainability Reporting Scoring Index as per GRI guidelines...................................................6
References....................................................................................................................................9

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING THEORY3
Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a set of regulations and internal guidelines
followed by the company which are aimed at undertaking activities for the benefit and
achievement of the goals of the society. They usually involve activities outside the business
activities of the entity and are done to benefit the society as a whole. In recent years, CSR has
gained prominence amongst firms from all industries and has become a mandatory part of the
activities undertaken by a firm. To understand the relevance of CSR in the modern day business,
a thorough research of the available literature is conducted. After studying the same, the
importance of sustainability reporting is analysed to know why it is relevant for providing a
holistic view of CSR than the other forms of available reporting. To further highlight the
importance of sustainability reporting in the modern day business, the stakeholder theory and the
legitimacy theory are studied in detail and their contribution to sustainable reporting is
understood. After which, the reports of Pact Group Holdings Limited are studied in depth to
prepare a sustainability reporting scoring based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
guidelines. These are meant to understand how well the company is following the sustainability
reporting guidelines and how it is contributing towards the benefit of the society as a whole.
Part A
Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility
As the success of a modern day business depends on its goodwill among the customers,
conducting CSR activities and undertaking responsibilities has become more important than
ever. It has been found that CSR contributes towards the better financial performance of the
firms. The reasons for this are the better reputation and competitive advantages obtained by the
firms. Another main reason is that undertaking CSR activities provides firms with a sustainable