Rio Tinto 2017 Sustainability Report: A Financial Accounting Analysis

This financial accounting assignment provides an analysis of Rio Tinto's sustainability report, focusing on environmental responsibilities, corporate governance, and disclosures. The report examines various research papers discussing sustainability reporting, corporate accountability, and environmental incidents. It delves into Rio Tinto's sustainability development initiatives, including environmental protection, water quality management, and biodiversity impact minimization. The analysis highlights the company's efforts to manage environmental risks, adhere to regulations, and engage in industry reviews. It also underscores Rio Tinto's commitment to waste management and reducing the environmental impact of its mining operations. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: Financial Accounting Assignment
Financial Accounting Assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Financial Accounting Assignment
Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................4
Overview of the Company.....................................................................................................4
Reporting related matter in the report....................................................................................4
Reference and Bibliography.......................................................................................................7

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Financial Accounting Assignment
Part 1
As per the paper “Using sustainability reporting to assess the environmental footprint of
copper mining” publish by “S.Northey, N.Haque and G.Mudd” in the year 2013. It stated
about the sustainability reporting about the copper mining that how assesses the environment
is affecting by the same. It say that about the estimation about the energy, water intensity and
environmental footprint in the copper industry. The research is been based upon the data
which the author have got from the annual report of different companies who have copper
producing mines in the business of the company. The country which is been included while
doing the research are “Chile, Peru, Australia and Argentina”. It show about the different
emission which the company have made in regards of GHG emission and also related to the
water footprint. The journal also provide recommendation as the company should give all the
details about the fuel usage in the sustainability report of the company and should also
include about the other emission by the company. The company should published the
sustainability report in regular interval so that the user can able to know the performance so
the company.
As per the paper “Corporate accountability in the Samarco chemical sludge disaster”
published by “Karen da Costa”. The paper is been based upon the Case which happen in 2015
the case was Samarco chemical sludge disaster. It shows how the company can bale to focus
more upon the corporate accountability and can able to fulfil the requirement. It show the
possible ways from which the company can able to perform their duty. It have done the
research and show the step which the Authorities have taken in regards of the disaster and
also show the account can be affected by the company.
As per the paper “Corporate Governance and Environmental Reporting” published by
“Kathyayini Katty Rao, Carol A. Tilt and Laurence H. Lester” in the year 2012. The paper is
been based upon the relationship between corporate governance and environmental reporting
about the company in the Australia. It show an analysis of the company corporate governance
board as the independent and the women director and the environmental reporting. It shows
about the different company regulation and strategy. It even analysis about the company
strategy about how the company implement in the mission about the corporate governance
and how they able to comply them in the industry.

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Financial Accounting Assignment
As per the paper “Corporate Social Responsibilities: Alternative Perspectives About the Need
to Legislate” published by “Craig Deegan- Marita Shelly” in the year 2013. It show the
analysis which is been done by the Australian government in regards of the corporate social
responsibility as should be regulated or not in the company. The research shows that the
company is not able to do the proper regulation in regards of the corporate social
responsibilities and are doing anti-regulation approach so it able to save the money in related
to the corporate social responsibility. So the government concluded about the corporate social
responsibility as “free market perspective” which should be promoted in the business
community and it also be against the introduction in corporate social responsibility of
national legislation.
As per the paper “Corporate social responsibility and the parameters of dialogue with
vulnerable others” published by “Robyn Mayes, Barbara Pini and Paula McDonald”. It state
that the case which is related to the corporate dialogue with vulnerable others. It state that the
how the external group can increase the application of the corporate social responsibility with
the help of the corporate learning. The analysis is been based upon the possibilities of the
conditions in regards of the corporate learning. It promote the community engagement as a
core for the corporate social responsibility. It show that the company primary objective is not
in regards of the corporate social responsibility as it primary business is to earn profit from
the business so it is been seen that the company does not take corporate responsibility as their
primary interest. So it can be said that the analysis is been done upon the “understanding of
corporate dialogue with vulnerable others”.
As per the paper “Environmental incidents in a developing country and corporate
environmental disclosures” published by Muhammad Azizul Islam and Muhammad Aminul
Islam” in the year in 2011. The paper deals with the company name Niko Resources ltd
which an Canada based multinational gas and oil company and show what are the step taken
by the company in regards of environmental disclosure. It wants to check that the company
have disclose all the related points in regards of the blowout which happen in the company to
the public or not. The research is based by using the data which are been present in the
related news of the company and also it have been checked the other financial information in
the company such as annual report, sustainability report. As per the research is been found
that the company is not able to provide any information of corporate social responsibility in
their annual report and also not in the press release which the company come up with in the
business. It is been seen that the company disclose such matters in the sustainability report of

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Financial Accounting Assignment
the company. It can be seen that the company have follows all the rules and regulation while
preparing the annual report as it have provided the information related to the financial
environmental disclosures in the annual report properly so it show that they are managing
their business properly. It is been seen that by the pressure of the public the company have
given such disclosure in the stand alone report of the company.
Part 2
Overview of the Company
The company name is Rio Tinto, it is an Anglo-Australian company. The company is
related to the metal and its primary business is mining. The company is one of the largest
multinational company in Australia (Riotinto.com 2019).
Meaning of Sustainability Development
Sustainability development means the development which is been done by the
individual but it does not affect the future needs. It simply means by the act of the present, the
future events does not get affected by the company.
Analysis of the company Rio Tinto sustainability report of the year 2017
Reporting related matter in the report
It can be seen from the report of the company that it review its report each year and do
the necessary changes which are been required by the report. It can be seen that it report as
per the benefits which the company can give to the stakeholder as a whole. To know what are
the important matter which the company should rep[ort in the financial rep[ort of the
company its take feedback from different people and also it keep in mind about the
expectation of the shareholder in this regards and also the analysis of the external
environment is been done by the company so that it can able to give the important and
necessary information to the public. The feedback which the company get is been analysis
and given some score by the management of the company, the score are elated what are the
matters important to the company and also the matters which are important to the stakeholder
of the company (Riotinto.com 2019). So after the analysis the company form the matter
which is to be given in the report of the company.

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Financial Accounting Assignment
Protecting the environment
The company is know of the fact that they are impacting a most part of the
environment by the business practices which they carry so to minimize the same it have taken
some step in protecting the environment. So to do so it have implied in the planning stage of
the company as it have minimize the risk by the asset of the company so that it can do less
impact in the environment. It have many regulators in the company who manages all the risk
related to the environment by the business of the company and also it apply to all the
regulation which are been made in regards of them (Riotinto.com 2019). To minimize the
effect it have adopted some standard and also take participation in industry review so that it
will able to learn about the method of reducing the affect and also help other to know about it
so it able to gather knowledge in regards of the waste which the company have made.
Water Quality Protection and Management
The company know about the importance of water so it has carried many processes so
that it can able to minimize the effect of the business risk upon the water. The company have
a water management process which help to manage the water. As it check the water supply
range and also control the water which is been return to the environment so it help them to
save as much water as it can also help them to reduce their business effect in the water. It can
be seen that the company is improving their water management as fast as they can so that it
will help the company to manage the water more easily and also reduce the risk which is
associated with the same. As per the data given in the report it show that the company is able
to do save the water as also it able to reduce the business risk from the water (Riotinto.com
2019).
Minimising the Biodiversity impact
As the company is a mining company so it have to use land and as a result it affect
the biodiversity which is staying in the land so the company have started a policy so that it
can able to minimize the effect on land. As per the report of the company it can be seen that
they have taken measure so that they minimize and avoid the biodiversity loss and can also
able to increase the biodiversity practices. It can also be seen that the management of the
company have consistent in regards of the policy which the company follow as “Cross-sector
Biodiversity Intitative’s. So the company use this process before doing the exploration in the

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Financial Accounting Assignment
site so that it able to know the effect of the company business upon the area and it can able to
take decision as per the review (Riotinto.com 2019).
Other Environmental Responsibilities
The company is aware that they have some responsibility so they ensure that it is been
fulfilled by the company as it can be seen from the report that they have also did all the other
responsibilities of the company. The items which the company have taken care of risk
management and impacts which the company make from the air emission and also the non-
mineral waste which the company produce from the business activities (Riotinto.com 2019).
It can be seen that the company have follow CSP standard as they have the mechanism which
record all the details and make company aware of the problems of noise, dust and quality of
water. So after getting the knowledge the company control the matters as soon as possible by
the company. The company waste management distinguish the waste and so them the effects
of each waste upon the environment so it help them to know the waste and the company
recycle the waste and there are some type of waste which cannot be recycle so the company
expense the disposal cost and do the disposal so that it can stop the impact of the waste in the
environment. So it can be said that the company have many methods from which they able to
minimize the wastage which are been caused by the business of the company.

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Financial Accounting Assignment
Reference and Bibliography
Assembly, G. (2015). Sustainable development goals. SDGs), Transforming our world:
the, 2030.
Atkinson, G., Dietz, S., Neumayer, E., & Agarwala, M. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of
sustainable development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Banister, D., & Button, K. (Eds.). (2015). Transport, the environment and sustainable
development. Routledge.
Bendell, J. (2017). Terms for endearment: Business, NGOs and sustainable development.
Routledge.
Carley, M., & Christie, I. (2017). Managing sustainable development. Routledge.
Charles Jr, O. H., Schmidheiny, S., & Watts, P. (2017). Walking the talk: The business case
for sustainable development. Routledge.
Ghai, D., & Vivian, J. M. (2014). Grassroots environmental action: people's participation in
sustainable development. Routledge.
Nilsson, M., Griggs, D., & Visbeck, M. (2016). Policy: map the interactions between
Sustainable Development Goals. Nature News, 534(7607), 320.
Pearce, D. (2014). Blueprint 3: Measuring sustainable development. Routledge.
Riotinto.com. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.riotinto.com/documents/RT_SD2017.pdf
Sachs, J. D. (2015). The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press.
Welford, R. (2016). Corporate environmental management 3: Towards sustainable
development. Routledge.

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Financial Accounting Assignment
Wheeler, S. M., & Beatley, T. (Eds.). (2014). Sustainable urban development reader.
Routledge.
World Health Organization. (2015). Health in 2015: from MDGs, millennium development
goals to SDGs, sustainable development goals.
World Health Organization. (2016). World health statistics 2016: monitoring health for the
SDGs sustainable development goals. World Health Organization.
Zhang, X., Davidson, E. A., Mauzerall, D. L., Searchinger, T. D., Dumas, P., & Shen, Y.
(2015). Managing nitrogen for sustainable development. Nature, 528(7580), 51.