Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting/Integrated Reporting

Zielsetzung/Inhalt:
Last decades have witnessed a significant increase in the debate on the role of the companies within society and in the attention for the social and environmental effects of their operations. Companies are expected to contribute to a sustainable global economy by combining long-term corporate profitability with social justice and environmental protection. This idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate sustainability has enormous implications for corporate management, planning, control and reporting. Indeed, companies need to incorporate this goal into their business operations. At the same time, they are expected to disclose information on their economic, social and environmental performance in a so-called CSR report. With this respect, a multitude of national and international bodies and initiatives emerged with the aim to provide guidance for the implementation in business practice and, more specifically, for reporting on CSR issues. In this context, a new concept of corporate reporting i.e., integrated reporting (IR) was developed and gained particular importance. What begun and mostly developed as a voluntary practice has become particularly in Europe and in Brazil (respectively CSR reporting and IR) object of specific regulations and mandatory standards which are challenging the corporate world. The growing prominence of CSR and IR is reflected in the extensive and still increasing number of studies investigating the implemented practices, the motivations and implications of sustainability management and reporting. The course deals with these developments focusing on the implications for corporate reporting. It shows CSR and IR theoretical and conceptual foundations, their practical implementation and challenges. It presents and compares different international standards and regulations with a particular focus on the European regulation and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

At the end of the course, students are able to both specify and describe the concepts of CSR and CSR reporting, IR and their components as well as the existing international norms, and European regulation and standards. Further, they are able to analyze and critically assess CSR and integrated reports. Finally, they can depict and interpret the major research findings concerning the reasons for, implications of, and future challenges of both integrating sustainability in business management and reporting.