ACCT20071 - Dexus Group's Social Responsibility & Integrated Report

This report provides a critical analysis of Dexus Property Group's (DXS) social responsibilities, as presented in their 2018 Performance Pack and Annual Report. It evaluates DXS's communication of its social, environmental, and economic performance to stakeholders, examining aspects like materiality matrices, sustained values, and financial highlights. The report also assesses the company's stakeholder engagement, including communication with directors, government, employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, and investors. Furthermore, it analyzes whether Dexus complies with integrated reporting standards, focusing on organizational overview, governance, and performance. The report concludes by discussing the potential of integrated reporting as an alternative to corporate social reporting, referencing peer-reviewed academic literature.

Running head: DEXUS GROUP
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The primary purpose of the Annual report and the Sustainable report is to present an overall
reflection of the different operations of the organization and the corporate social initiatives as
being adopted by the firm. The primary reason why an annual report is prepared is to enable the
firm communicate with the different shareholders as well as the stakeholders of the firm and in
addition to this, present a transparent image of the firm to the society. The primary aim of the
given report is to present an analysis of the Annual Report and the Sustainable report of the
Dexus group and to ensure that, the reports are being analyzed against the integrated reporting
standards.

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Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Report...............................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................5
Communication........................................................................................................................5
Stakeholder Analysis...............................................................................................................8
Analysis on Integrated Reporting..........................................................................................10
Conclusion and Recommendations................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Part 1
Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility can be considered to be a critical aspect of the
organization and with respect to this, all the firms as present in the business environment are
required to ensure that they are able to successfully fulfill their additional responsibilities and
also ensure that they will be able to look after the needs of the different stakeholders as present in
the operations of thee business (Adams, 2015). However, very often the responsibility of the
different stakeholders often remains limited to the books and in reality the different stakeholders
and their needs are not fulfilled at large. Hence, the primary aim of the given report is to analyze
the Annual report and the Performance report of one such company in lieu of which it will be
understood whether the company is being able to fulfill its social objectives or not and whether
the format of integrated reporting is being practiced by the company. The company which has
been chosen for the purpose of the assignment can be stated to be the Dexus Property Group
(DXS).The report will present an argument which will be centered on whether DXS is fulfilling
its reporting and social responsibilities diligently or not.
Analysis
Overview of the Report
The two reports namely the Sustainability Performance Pack report of 2018 and the
Annual Report of 2018 can be stated to be two very comprehensive reports of the Dexus Group.
The Sustainability Performance Pack report of 2018 lays down the social performance of the
company and this report presents an analysis of how DXS has performed in the particular
segment. The report discusses domains like Material issues, Sustained values, leading cities,

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Future enabled customers, Strong communities, and the thriving people of the company and the
enriched environmental contribution of the company at large (Saeidi et al., 2015). The report
states that the company considers the corporate social responsibility and sustainability as an
essential aspect of the organization and is highly committed to understanding, monitoring as well
as managing the economic, environmental as well as the social impact of the operations of the
firm. These measures are adopted by the firm with the help of measurable actions and the
corporate policy.
As the material impacts are greatest on sustainability, Dexus commitments are tilted
towards it to ensure long term success (Pearson, 2017). The report claims that all the sustainable
goals of the company have been achieved at large and in addition to this, in order to ensure
uniformity in its reporting, the firm has followed The Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability
Guidelines to determine the different boundaries which should be followed by the company and
in addition to this, the key performance indicators which have been used to measure the
performance of all groups like the employees, customers, community and suppliers have been
presented.
On the other hand, the Annual report of the Dexus Group of Properties presents the
overall path of the organization and the different activities which it has carried out throughout
the past few years. The report has been systematically divided into different sections like the
Overview of the firm which comprises of the highlights and other related information. This is
then followed by the Performance of the company whereby the Funds management, Trade and
Property Portfolio performance have been stated (Thomas & Stephens, 2015). The third section
of the report presents a Positive momentum whereby the initiatives as adopted by the company
have been stated down its culture systems , its zero emission policy, the shaping of the leading

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cities and other related information. Moreover, the latter half of the report represents information
on Governance, Director`s Report, the Financial report and the Investment information
(Schwartz, 2017). The Annual report is in synchronization with the Performance report and has
laid down a considerable set of information which can be considered to be crucial for the overall
benefit of the organization and to analyze the overall social performance of the business at large.
Discussion
Communication
In the reports, DXS has tried to communicate its information to the different
stakeholders. This information can be stated to be related to the overall social, environmental
performance as well as the economic performance of the firm. As stated earlier, the report can be
stated to be divided into various parts whereby each of these parts aims to present a critical
information to the different customers as present (Mayfield & Mayfield, 2017). For instance, in
the Performance momentum report, the company has presented a materiality matrix which aims
to represent the different aspects of materiality Through this matrix, the company aims to present
an acute data of the different material issues which are being faced by the company and this has
been analyzed because it is highly related to the stakeholders and their importance with respect
to which, the issues have been outlined and presented in the form of a timeline.

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Figure 1: The material issues discussion
(Source: Dexus.com, 2018).
The section on the Sustained Value has been also communicated effectively in order to
underline the basic themes of the company in this aspect. The key themes can be stated to be the
themes of Connectivity, Livability and Resilience. Through these key themes, the organization
aims to provide a sustained value to the different individuals which are related to the
organization and can be stated to be the aims related to Thriving the employees and the people as
present in the firm, leading the different cities and providing sustainable solutions , enriching the
environment to ensure long term success, future enabled customers and building a strong
community with the help of which an organization will be able to ensure that it is successfully
taking care of all the aspects of the organization at large (Grayson & Hodges, 2017). The Dexus
group has also presented its performance in the industry against the Stock Index like S&P Jones
and others. This also assists in presenting a clear picture of the firm and hence, based on this it

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can be stated that the organization has been communicating well with the different members of
the firm.
In the customer aspect, through the use of technology, the company aims to able the
customers to make the best use of technology which will go a long way in assisting them to
understand the latest trends and helps them to prosper at large (Schrempf-Stirling, Palazzo &
Phillips, 2016). Moreover, in the performance report the company has also been successful to
present data about the communities and other related data as well which will then assist the firm
and the readers in ensuring that the firm is looking after all the necessary aspects. Even in the
annual report, the firm has provided an overall review of the firm which is then followed by the
performance of the organization (Thielsch & Wirth, 2017). This is then followed by the
Performance against the strategy which compares the actual performance of the firm against the
designated performance and presents a clear picture. Hence, in this aspect, it can be stated that,
the firm is successfully able to communicate to the people and able to ensure that, all the relevant
information is made available to the different members.

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Figure 2: The financial highlights of the Report
(Source: Dexus.com, 2018).
Stakeholder Analysis
According to Ni and Van Wart (2015), the stakeholders form the most relevant part of the
organization and any firm which wants to attain success in the long run would require to ensure
that it is successfully able to engage in a long term and fruitful relationship with the
organizations and in this manner, all the operations of the organization can be carried out
successfully (Frederick, 2016). Dexus Property Group realizes the value of the stakeholder value
and hence, it ensures that all the stakeholders are communicated with effectively and in lieu of
this, it needs to be understood that, the company communicates and provides information to the
different members of the organization in the following manner:

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Directors: The report presents a comprehensive analysis, on the overall performance on
the organization which presents a clear picture of the firm to the directors and helps them to
understand the overall status of the firm (Shamir, 2017).
Government: The government is dealt with successfully by providing adequate
information on the overall performance of the company which is then followed by a detailed
analysis of the financials of the company and the different resources which the company makes
use of (Lins, Servaes & Tamayo, 2017).
Employee: The employees are dealt with by providing a correct image of the
organization. The employees required transparency in the workplace and through the reports they
tend to become aware of the different operations of the firm (Dexus.com, 2018).
Customers: The report of the firm is successfully addressing the customers however,
there exists one limitation which means that, the report is written in corporate language and not
in the normal day to day language. Had the report been written in a layman`s language it would
have become very easy for the firm to ensure that it is successfully able to reach out to the target
audience.
Suppliers: The financials tend to present an overall image on the firm`s ability to pay
back its debts and also the operations of the firm along with other relevant information as
available.
Creditors: The creditors of the firm who have their money in the firm would also prefer if
the firm is successfully able to present a clear image of its operations (Moumen, Othman, &
Hussainey, 2015). However, in this case, the organization is not able to present a clear image of

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the firm which would assist the creditors to take the right decision of re-investing in the firm or
not.
Investors: The investors may be the shareholders who will be required to understand the
overall performance of the organization (Mulder, 2017). However, in the particular case, there
seems to be a presence of too many figures in the annual report and in the performance report as
well, which then has the capacity to confuse the different investors.
Analysis on Integrated Reporting
The integrated reporting can be defined as a method of reporting whereby the
organization aims to ensure that they are presenting their sustainability and performance reports
in a manner such that, they are successfully able to engage in reflecting quality information,
promote a cohesive approach to research, enhance the accountability of the firm, support
integrated thinking and ensure that adequate decision making is engaged in over time
(Integratedreporting.org, 2018).
The report which is integrated in nature should necessarily comprise of the following
aspects and in the section an evaluation of whether Dexus is able to comply by the same will be
presented.
1. Organizational overview and external environment: This information has been
successfully provided in the annual report and hence, this aspect of an integrated report is
being fulfilled by Dexus.
2. Governance: Governance performance also forms an essential aspect of the organization
and with respect to this, it needs to be mentioned that, all integrated reports should

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comprise of the Governance component and the DXS fulfills this component (Dumay et
al., 2016).
3. Business model: The business model information also forms an integrated aspect of the
organization but this aspect of integrated reporting is currently not present in the
organization.
4. Risk and opportunities: The risks as well as opportunities of the particular company
should be present in the reporting which will assist in ensuring that the report is a
complete one (Henderson, Cheney & Weaver, 2015). The report of the DXS presented
information in regard to the risk and opportunities of the business and fulfills this
component.
5. Strategy and resource allocation: The strategy and resource allocation also needs to be
present in the business report. The DXS provides adequate information on the strategy as
adopted by the company and the different resources which are present in the organization
at large.
6. Performance: The information of the current performance of the firm should also be
present in the reports. The performance section of the DXS report lays down the
information regarding the performance of the firm (Corrado, Demartini & Dumay, 2019).
7. Outlook: The outlook with respect to the future of the firm and the different challenges as
faced by the organization should also be provided by the organization at large. With
respect to this, there is no such information as present in the DXS report.
8. Basis of presentation: The basis of presentation of the report can be stated to be fairly
accurate in nature. Although it needs to be mentioned that a large amount of data as

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present in the report is quantitative which makes it difficult for the different members to
process the information.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that, the overall reporting scheme and
policy of the Dexus Property Group can be stated to be fairly accurate in nature. They have a
comprehensive reporting style whereby the company has covered a large amount of information
and can be stated to be fairly considerate while covering the operations of the firm. The reporting
standard of the report can be considered to be The Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability
Guidelines and essential data has been used. However, after the analysis as done in the particular
report it can be understood that, the report should have been formed in a comparatively simpler
language and in addition to this, the stress should have been to cover up the future outlook and
investor information.

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