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Sustainability Reporting Essay

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As a newly established area in accounting, sustainability accounting and reporting extends the traditional model of financial and non-financial reporting to incorporate the company’s operational information, social and environmental activities, and their ability to deal with related risks. Not only do these acts have effects on society and the environment, but they also directly impact company’s financial statements. The most widely accepted definition of sustainability that has emerged over time is the “triple bottom-line”, which incorporates three key elements of performance: financial, social, and environmental viability (Slaper). These three aspects of sustainability reporting are also commonly referred to as the triple P’s: people, planet, and profit. Although sustainability has often been mentioned as the goal of many businesses, nonprofits and governments over the past decade (and studies have shown that an increasing number of companies and organizations are striving to make their operations more sustainable), determining how sustainable an organization is can become difficult and also raises many questions within this sub-group of accounting.
Sustainability reporting has become increasingly prevalent in organizations of all types and sizes. A company or organization’s sustainability report is a published report that details the economic, environmental and social impacts that are a direct result of their daily activities. These reports also depict the organization’s

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