Presently environmental and ethical matters are in the centre of attention and companies producing sustainability reports have become more common. It has also started to become more and more ordinary to assure these sustainability reports by an external part. However, the amount of assured sustainability reports differs a lot between different countries.There can be several reasons for why the companies chose to get the sustainability report assured. Previous studies state that the choice to produce sustainability reports can be re-lated to theories like the legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and the agent theory. Other aspects that can affect the decision to construct a sustainability report can according to prior studies be different company characteristics and the national culture in the country in which the company is operating.

Companies today are expected to communicate their responsibility to the world around them. Society?s expectations differ and stakeholders are demanding that companies act responsibly on matters related to climate, work environment and human rights. The purpose of sustainability reports is that companies should measure, present and take responsibility in relation to their internal and external stakeholders. It is intended that a reasonable picture of the company's sustainability performance should be communicated, containing both positive and negative effects.Companies efforts with sustainability issues is industry-dependent and industries with significant environmental problems perform the most advanced environmental statement.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att ta reda på hur statligt ägda företag arbetar med hållbarhetsfrågor och hur dessa förhåller sig till affärsverksamheten.  Metod: Vi har i denna uppsats använt oss av en kvalitativ undersökningsstrategi. Vi har vidare genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer där vi har använt oss av en intervjuguide  innehållande fyra ämnesområden som knyter an till uppsatsens frågeställning. Ämnesområdena är företagets mål, tillvägagångssätt och strategier, GRI:s ramverk samt hållbarhetsredovisningens effekter och framtidsutsikter.Empiri: Vi har samlat in vår empiri genom telefonintervjuer och intervjuer på plats hos de deltagande företagen i studien. De deltagande företagen i denna studie är Vattenfall, Teracom, SAS, Samhall, TeliaSonera, Green Cargo och PostNord där vi har träffat ansvariga inom hållbarhetsområden på respektive företag.Slutsats: Samtliga företag i studien har antingen påbörjat eller strävar efter att integrera hållbarhetsfrågorna i affärsverksamheten, vilket de anser är den enda vägen att gå. Det finns däremot skillnader på hur långt de olika företagen kommit med denna integration.

This study has a double purpose. First, it explores and maps out the use of quantitative key indicators in social performance reporting within a microfinance portfolio. This was done on behalf of Storebrand Asset Management, who would like to aggregate and report the social results of their microfinance investments to their customers. The study concludes that the extent of social reporting and types of indicators used varies, meaning that it is hard to aggregate data for use in further reporting. Thus, the work towards the goal of social reporting has only just begun.

Title: Global Reporting Initiative - A comparative study on compliance with the initiative's guidelines between Ericsson and Vattenfall.Authors: Peter Leidhammar, Mattias ThorénSupervisor: Bo EnquistExaminer: Margareta BjurkloSeminar Date: 2009-01-14Background and problem formulation: The interest and the requirements that stakeholders have for companies sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. Thus more companies are increasing their work on their sustainability reports. As there are no laws governing how these are to be designed, standards have been created by various organizations that companies voluntarily can follow. Now, after the Swedish government gave them the directive to follow the GRI's guidelines the Swedish public companies have started to follow this trend. The question then stand how much the private companies' sustainability reports differ from state companies and whether this can be traced to the differences in the companies' ownership and their stakeholders picture.Objective: The purpose of the paper is:· analyze how the GRI's guidelines are followed by the two organizations· highlight differences between them from a theoretical perspectiveLimitations: This paper is limited to two companies, one company owned by the government and one privately-owned company.

Sammanfattning Uppsatsens titel: Sustainability redovisning ? en komparativ kvalitetsstudie. Seminariedatum: 2002-01-25 Kurs: FEK 591 Magisterseminarium ? Redovisning 10 poäng. Författare: Markus Håkansson, Martin Sehag och Mikael Ullman Handledare: Fredrik Ljungdahl Företag: ABB, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, British Airways, BP, COOP, Föreningssparbanken, ITT Flygt, NCC och Shell.

Fokus på hållbarhet i företag ökat kraftigt på senare år. Ett resultat av denna hållbarhetsutveckling är GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), en organisation som utvecklar ramverk och ger vägledning för innehållet i företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar. Svenska Regeringen på initiativ av Maud Olofsson var först i världen med att kräva att alla svenska statliga företag, från och med räkenskapsåret 2008, ska upprätta en externt granskad hållbarhetsredovisning i enighet med GRI:s riktlinjer G3.  Den här studien syftar till att undersöka hur de svenska statliga företagen har påverkats av regeringens nya krav. Studien innefattar en undersökning av sju statliga företag som idag redovisar hållbarhet i enighet med GRI:s riktlinjer. En kvalitativ fallstudie har använts för undersökningen. Efter intervjuer med företagen kan det fastslås att det nya regeringskravet till viss del är en kostsam process.

Companies today face more and more demands from society and stakeholders. It is no longer about just satisfying shareholders, sales and making a profit. Consumers are becoming more aware of products effects and the consequences it has on humans, our environment and the generation ahead of us. NGO:s and society request that companies take responsibility and actions toward a more sustainable business. Many investors analyze companies? sustainability regarding social and environmental issues when it comes to choosing a company to invest in.

Begreppen ha?llbarhet och CSR, corporate social responsibility, ses ba?da som ett sa?tt fo?r ett fo?retag att ta socialt ansvar fo?r samha?llet och samtidigt minimera risker fo?r ova?ntade ha?ndelser. Bankernas roll i att bidra till en ha?llbar utveckling a?r betydande pa? grund av sin fo?rmedlande roll i ekonomin. Bankerna har en stor inverkan pa? den ekonomiska utvecklingen i va?rlden.

As the media attention society on the world climate change, interest in the environment and social impact has increased. This has in turn made even more companies choose to maintain a sustainability report that contains the three aspects of economic, environment and social impact. The demand for sustainability reports has increased among stakeholders. It has made the companies that establish this form of reports experienced economic benefits. The sustainability report than became a useful way to compete among businesses.

Background and problem discussion: Sustainability reporting has recently risen in importance and a rising number of companies choose to issue voluntary stand-alone sustainability reports. Their non-regulated nature increases the opportunity for management to angle the information in these disclosures to their own advantage. Lately the focus has shifted from examining what kind of information is provided in environmental disclosures, to analyzing how the information is presented.Purpose: The purpose is to examine if managers in the energy sector use optimistic tone when issuing sustainability reports. The aim is to find out if the tone applied in environmental disclosures is in congruence with either the environmental or economic performance or if an excessively positive tone is being used to mislead readers.Limitations: This study is limited to information found in environmental disclosures from private companies in the energy sector, issued in 2012 or 2013. Environmental performance is defined as the amount of CO2e emissions and economic performance refers to annual company revenues.Methodology: The quantification of optimistic tone is conducted using a content analysis, relying on a pre-specified wordlist and a pilot study.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between non-audited and audited sustainability reports and in that way indicate the significance of auditing to the contents of a sustainability report. The study was delimited to include three companies that create sustainability reports according to GRI guidelines, and also have changed from non-audited to audited reports.The study is an exploratory study where we started from companies that follow GRI's standard and who have changed from being non-assured to assured and certified. In order to examine any differences we have started out from corporate sustainability reports and with the basis of these latter gather those changes which may have occurred during the changeover. We therefore chose to conduct a literature review on each company's non-audited sustainability reports and compare them with each company's audited and certified sustainability reports. Furthermore our study has been made on the basis of an assessment model based on the concepts of materiality, completeness and comparability.The study showed that the audited sustainability reports in all companies were more focused and more detailed about the aspects GRI established for the performance indicators.

This study focuses on how the idea of sustainability is dealt with by companies, how the idea changes when moving through a company structure and how the different individuals interpret the idea. To date, many different studies have been written on the subject of sustainability, but few share the perspective addressed in this particular study. This case study was formed at a paper mill in the central part of Sweden. Semi-structured interviews with employees working on different hierarchical levels, within the same company, were chosen in order to get an insight into how the idea of sustainability is implemented throughout an entire company. The interviews have been transcribed to help identify contrasting patterns.This study has shown that the idea of sustainability, and its context within society, differs from how the idea is perceived in the organization.

The European Union's Corporate Sustainability reporting Directive (CSRD) aims toenhance and standardize Sustainability reporting to support the green transition. While the public sector is expected to lead in sustainability, the application of CSRD within Swedish municipalities is fragmented. Many municipally owned companies fall below reporting thresholds individually, creating a transparency gap despite the municipal group often exceeding these thresholds collectively. This discrepancy raises moral and strategic questions regarding public accountability and the effective utilization of the framework. This thesis investigates the rationale for the proactive adoption of CSRD principles bySwedish municipalities, irrespective of formal legal requirements.

Syfte: Syftet är att studera statligt ägda företags inställning till integrerad redovisning och <IR> ramverket som publicerades i december 2013. Vidare är syftet att undersöka vad företagen tror ligger till grund för behovet av ett nytt sätt att redovisa, samt få en insikt i hur statligt ägda företag ser på en framtid för integrerad redovisning.Metod: En kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts för att besvara studiens syfte.Empiri: Empirin har samlats in via sju intervjuer med respondenter från statligt ägda företag. De företag som medverkat är PostNord, Samhall, Green Cargo, TeliaSonera, Svensk exportkredit, Swedfund och Almi.Slutsats: De statligt ägda företag som deltagit i studien har en övergripande positiv inställning till integrerad redovisning och till <IR> ramverket. Företagen uppger att det funnits ett behov av att redovisa och förmedla en mer rättvisande bild av organisationen som helhet. Resultatet av studien visar vidare att <IR> ramverket innebär en del utmaningar och möjligheter samt att företagen tror på en framtid för integrerad redovisning..