Comparative Analysis Regarding the Sustainability Reporting Practice in Romania at the Level of Sustainability Reports

Abstract

There is currently a heated debate surrounding the proliferation of non-financial reporting regulations, which is why there is great concern about the less likely scenario of harmonization of the various reporting frameworks. Increasing efforts to define global or at least regional non-financial reporting regulations and their implementation through reliable corporate reporting systems is limited by the barriers and challenges raised by specific country, industry and company characteristics. The question is how companies adapt to this confusing corporate reporting landscape. The purpose of this paper is to perform a reference analysis regarding the completeness of the reports drawn up from the perspective of the degree of coverage of the GRI checklist. Thus, the Global Reporting Initiative, respectively GRI, developed a template in the form of a checklist for sustainability reporting called the GRI Content Index template, considered a reference element in our analysis regarding sustainability and sustainable development and the mapping of the various SDGs (respectively Sustainable Development Goals known in Romania as Sustainable Development Goals), on a sample of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The purpose of the research is to provide an image of the level of transparency of companies listed on the stock exchange, regarding the sustainability of business models. The methodology used is based on the quantitative analysis of the GRI index and the practical implications of the study mainly reveal the best practices in the field of sustainability reporting, viewed from the perspective of neo-institutional theory, which highlights the coercive, normative and mimetic forces related to sustainability disclosures.

Keywords

• sustainability
• sustainable reporting
• gri