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Performance indicators in CSR and sustainability reports in Hungary
137-142Views:308Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Sustainability reporting is a relatively new phenomenon in Hungary. As the external pressure from the civil society, public authorities and the media has so far been fairly low, this important corporate activity emerged only at the beginning of the last decade. In spite of this, several pioneering companies have started to publish information on its environmental and social performance in recent years. CSR and sustainability reports are seen increasingly as strategic documents that offer a balanced, objective, and comprehensive assessment of a firm’s non-financial performance. In 2008 and 2009, more than a third of the 100 largest companies reported on their non-financial results (most of them were GRI based reports). In 2010, sixty-one organisations published a report about their non- financial performance, and 22 of these for only the first time. The aim of this paper is to present recent attempts to use indicators in CSR and sustainability reports. On the basis of a detailed review of 70 CSR/sustainability reports published during the last 9 years in Hungary, an analysis was made on the performance indicators appearing in the reports. The motivations of indicator selection processes was analysed and the intended roles of indicator set in communication and strategy design was presented. The significance of and limits to the proposed indicators was discussed.
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Water footprint in Hungary
83-91Views:174More and more news report on water-related extreme environmental phenomena. Some of these are natural, which are often beyond the human race. But others are definitely due to anthropogenic effects. I think the water footprint index is able to highlight national and international water-use processes and gives us the opportunity of organizing a sustainable, consumer-, environmental- and governancefriendly management. 81% of the fresh water withdrawal is from surface water bodies in the EU. In Europe as a whole, 44% of abstraction is used for energy production, 24% for agriculture, 21% for public water supply and 11% for industry. Public water supply is confined to ground waters. To the water resources related human activity caused qualitative and quantitative amortisation will grow worse in the foreseeable future due to the climate change. Beside seasonal differences the sectoral differences are increasingly becoming critical between different areas, such as Southern and Western Europe. The former, wrong agricultural support system has worsened the situation since it gave financial aid for the used improper techniques of water-intensive crop cultivation. By today, this seems to be solved. Public water abstraction is affected by many factors, of which mostly are based on social situation and habits, but technological leakage receives a big role as well. Interesting, that for example the residents’water consumption in Eastern Europe decreased because price were raised and regular measurements were introduced. But in Southern Europe it increased due to tourism in the past period. Industrial water withdrawal decreased across Europe because of the decline of industry and the development of technologies. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the Union needs a sustainable, demand-driven leadership which focuses on the preservation and use efficiency. This have already appeared in politics and legal administration as well. Current research calls the attention to the significance and difficulties of this kind of domestic estimation presented trough the water footprint calculation of bread and pork in Hungary. The received data indicate the domestic water consumption trends in a modern approach. There is no doubt for me about the urgent necessity of water footprint calculation because as a result innovative, sustainability supported environmental, social, economical, and political relationships can be created – not just on local, regional or national level, but on interregional, European and even global stage.
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A multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices
13-26Views:123Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out the multi-dimensional ethical approach to accounting and reporting practices going on in India and abroad. What has been the shift in Reporting Practices by Indian companies? What drives the Indian companies to report on the non-financial matters?
Design/methodology/approach – This paper mainly focuses on the inclusion of Non-Financial Matters in the Corporate Annual Reports. An Empirical Survey was carried out and the questionnaires were administered to 122 respondents comprising of 75 academicians and 47 chartered accountants. This paper compares the perceptions of academicians and accounting professionals on the ethical reporting practices of the Indian companies.
Findings – The results were tested using the t-test analysis. The research suggests that more companies should report on their environmental, social, and corporate governance performance and find a way to express them in their Annual Reports and the reporting of data regarding the carbon emissions, energy use, pollution, impact on the local economy, etc., should be made mandatory for companies.
Research limitations/implications – The research included respondents who are currently living in Delhi. For more generalized opinion nationwide survey can be carried out. Another important category of stakeholder for judging the usability of Corporate Annual Reports could be the Institutional Investors.
Practical implications – The results of this study would help the policy makers in framing the guidelines for standardized annual reports, synergizing social and business interest needs on top priority. Corporate philanthropy needs to transform into the realm of core business and corporate social responsibility. Integrated reporting could pave the way for synthesizing financial and non-financial reporting into one form and give a holistic view of companies’ strategies to its stakeholders incorporating new dimensions of IFRS.
Social implications – More emphasis on Non-financial matters will certainly contribute in making the corporates more responsible to the society, environment, and to the future generations. -
New tools and opportunities in growth and climate friendly greening for small and medium enterprises in the European Union
25-31Views:158The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is unquestionable in the European economies, while financial opportunities are still inadequate for them. The more than 20 million SMEs play a significant role in European economic growth, innovation and job creation. According to the latest EC Annual Report , SMEs are accounting for 99% of all non-financial enterprises, employing 88.8 million people and generating almost EUR 3.7 tn in added value for our economy. Despite the fact that there is plenty of EU funding available for these SMEs, for certain reasons these funds hardly reach them. But we have to see that the EU supports SMEs by various way, e.g. by grants, regulatory changes, financial instrument, direct funds. On the other hand, SMEs and decision makers realised that the environmental sustainability has to be attached to the economic growth, therefore more and more tools are available for these enterprises. Over the last few years, public institutions, the market, the financial community and non-governmental associations have explicitly demanded that firms improve their environmental performance. One of the greatest opportunities might lay in the Climate- and Energy Strategy till 2030 as 20% of the EU budget is allocated to climate-related actions, however the easy access to finance is still a key question. Does the EU recognise the actual difficulties? Is there a systemic reason behind the absorption problems? Is the EU creating a more businessfriendly environment for SMEs, facilitating access to finance, stimulates the green and sustainable growth and improving access to new markets? The paper analyses the current European situation of the SMEs and the effectiveness of some new tools, which are specially targeting SMEs.
JEL classification: Q18
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