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Sustainable reporting and assurance in developing countries

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dc.contributor.authorShum, P.
dc.contributor.authorBurritt, R.L.
dc.contributor.authorShen, H.
dc.contributor.conference1st South American Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research - CSEAR (27 Jul 2009 - 28 Jul 2009 : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
dc.date.issued2009
dc.description.abstractFinancial reporting and assurance (FRA) has been widely studied in the literature. A number of research studies warned about the problems of applying the lessons learnt from FRA directly to sustainability reporting and assurance (SRA) due to different interest groups having their different and even competing objectives. For example, shareholders are interested in FRA, but due to their economic interest to maximise profit, their interest in SRA is low as a result of trading off the costs against the benefits. To address this concern, there is a need for separate study on SRA. From case study observations and suggestions from the literature, the determinants of SRA must be different from those of FRA. However, empirical research on SRA has been scarce in the literature, especially cross-country comparative study. Furthermore, it is also important to recognise the international similarities and differences in SRA so as to provide useful tools for policy makers and regulators to understand the forces that influence the level of CSR and SRA practices in developing countries. Using regression analysis, this study has identified the eight determinants of SRA in a cross-country study. Under this model, this study identifies and tests the similarities and differences between developing and developed countries along these factors. The results of this study show that the most unfavourable factors that hinder developing countries in adopting SRA are firstly, lack of social pressure, e.g. powerful civil society institutions, to demand and scrutinise CSR practices and reporting. Secondary, there is lack of legal enforcement to make the rules, law and regulation effective. Thirdly, the large firm size in the developing countries reflects their monopoly position in the market. With this market power, companies can ignore the demand for voluntary SRA. The developing countries are underperforming in SRA in terms of the level of sustainability reports listed in the GRI web site. It is important for the global community to continue to inspire the developing countries to lift the quantity and quality of their SRA. Using the results of this study, a number of recommendations are offered to the policy makers and regulators of the developing countries to improve the current situation in their SRA.
dc.identifier.citation1st South American Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research: CSEAR 2009, 2009, pp.1-22
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11541.2/130800
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherCSEAR
dc.publisher.placeBrazil
dc.rightsCopyright 2009 the authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
dc.subjectsustainable reporting
dc.subjectassurance
dc.subjectdeveloping countries
dc.titleSustainable reporting and assurance in developing countries
dc.typeConference paper
pubs.publication-statusPublished
ror.fileinfo12153123360001831 13153123350001831 9916072553301831_Published
ror.mmsid9916072553301831

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