Growth of CSR Reporting in Compliance with IFRS - Assignment Example

Growth of CSR Reporting in Compliance with IFRS Overview of the research Most of the people today including managers, employees or students, have some information on the concept of corporate social responsibility regardless of their background. There exist many different explanations of CSR and also an array of views on the appropriate scope and nature of the social responsibility that is linked with a selection of firms.1 The literature that exists that is associated with corporate social responsibility views reporting as an essential attribute of societal accountability2 and there for is at the centre of focus from scholars in the relevant field. Looking significantly at what has been noted about corporate non-financial reporting, it becomes evident that there is substantial variability on how scholars and organizations perceive this process. The number of experiential studies on the corporate social responsibility reporting is significantly increasing and more and more thorough content analysis of the corporate reports that are published has been implemented with the views that originate from the stakeholders, economic theories with an economic nature, information economics and also risk management. The universal position that has been documented in most books is that corporate social responsibility reporting enhances accountability.3 Many writers are of the opinion that legitimacy theory provides and a frame that is descriptive in terms of social and environmental disclosure. In terms of the number of corporate social reports, there is increasing agreement that a variety of features are linked with larger revelation of environmental information via corporate communications. These factors basically include: the size of the firm, the financial performance, media exposure and also being subject to regulatory proceedings. Project statement The main purpose of this study is to appreciate the growth corporate social responsibility reporting that is in compliance with IFRS across Kuwait and to expose the differences and similarities that may exist in the ways that corporate social responsibility information is revealed as well as the activities that are related to corporate social responsibility. Within this aim that had been identified, there are some objectives that will be addressed which will include identifying the variations in form and the main features of corporate social responsibility reports, distinguishing the issues that are divulged when the report comes out and disclosing and analyzing the differences in corporate social responsibility reporting and propose their possible underlying reasons. Positioning of the research Corporate social responsibility activities and reporting are vital and carried out throughout the world as can be seen by many of the companies that produce corporate social responsibility reports annually.4 Corporate social responsibility guidelines and frameworks that include that Global Reporting Initiatives are used in helping businesses in executing these reporting in a manner that is standardized.5 CSR reports are communication channels that are used by the organizations to divulge information that is associated with corporate social responsibility.6 The corporate social responsibility reports are used to provide written detailed documentation of the CSR initiatives and activities that have taken place in a particular time period such as the end of a financial year or a calendar year. Different names are used when referring to CSR reports which include corporate responsibility report, corporate citizenship report, and sustainability report and so on. It is important to remember that every one of these terms, when placed a heading to a report, generates a particular meaning to the stakeholders. CSR reporting has grown to be a basic business expectation7 and as long as most of the CSR reports are not independently assured; grave doubts will remain as to the meaning and reliability of these non-assured CSR reports. Business houses that operate all over the globe are slowly realizing their stake in the society and taking part in various social and environmental activities. The most important requirement is to come up with effective strategic policies and adopt various instruments according to the history of the company, the content associated with it, peculiarity in relationship with its different stakeholders so that corporate social responsibility can be Implemented towards its goals which are an environment that is sustained as well as social and economic growth. The discourse that has surrounded the adoption of integrated reporting is in progress without any consensus among the policy makers, accountants and other experts that are concerned. On one side of the spectrum are those that are of the opinion that all the listed companies are supposed to be encouraged to take up integrated reporting practices in the next few years.8 On the opposing side of the spectrum are those that look at integrated reporting frameworks are inadequately developed to provide a useful reporting model for the companies more often. In the place of an accurately incorporated report, companies come up with a report which includes unrelated levels of additional information.9 Corporate social responsibility reports are now produced on a regular basis by the major corporations all over the world and there are also signs that the companies that are in the middle income bracket in the developing countries are also producing corporate social responsibility reports. Many of these reports are no longer delivered in printed form since the companies are adopting the internet to produce reports that are web-based.10 Research design and Methodology The broad outlook of the research will be focused on secondary data that will be acquired from twenty corporate social responsibility reports that were issued by ten companies that have the base of their operations in Kuwait and operate in the same industry. The companies whose reports will be considered will be those that have issued more than two reports within the last five years. The reports will be obtained from the websites of the companies that are covers by the research and also from the print media in the case of those that are published. The evaluation of the growth of social responsibility reporting in compliance with IFRS will be accomplished by considering at length some of the main attributes of the reports. This attributes will include the accessibility of the reports, applications and adherence to the guidelines that have been provided by the IFRS, availability of verification in the event that it is needed as well as availability of tools that can provide response and feedback and the contents of the report. The content analysis of the corporate social responsibility report will be restricted to how the information is disseminated to the public and clarity of the report the report in terms of the its growth and also its compliance to the guidelines of the IFRS. It will also focus on the description of the corporate social responsibility or its sustainable development concept, the reporting process management approach and also the stakeholder engagement approach. In relation to the analysis of the contents of the reports, it is intended that a number of material issues that characterize the importance, comprehensiveness, consistency, simplicity as well as the level of transparency of the information that is divulged will be revealed. The issues will then be tabulated after they have been considered and analyzed. It is expected that the research will take a three day where in this period, the companies that will be considered will be chosen and the relevant reports that are associated with them sought in order to start the evaluation. The first place that the reports will be searched for will be from the companies’ websites and there after the search will be widened to other sources in the event that this will not be successful. Expected results The main intention of this study is to shed some light on the differences and similarities in the growth of corporate social responsibility reporting in Kuwait in compliance with the regulations of the IFRS through an evaluation of the corporate social responsibility reports of some of the companies that operate in Kuwait. The evaluation of the reports that will be obtained is expected to recommend that the growth of corporate social responsibility differs considerably across the Kuwait. Particularly, it is likely to reveal that the companies in Kuwait have not yet fully embraced corporate social responsibility reporting since even though there is a considerable effort that is directed at complying with the guidelines that have be spelled by the IFRS. Reference list Amao, Olufemi. Corporate social responsibility, human rights, and the law. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. Aras, Güler and David Crowther. Business strategy and sustainability. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald, 2012. Crane, Andrew and Dirk Matten. Corporate social responsibility. Los Angeles: Sage publications, 2007. Habisch, André. Corporate social responsibility across Europe. Berlin: Springer, 2005. Horrigan, Bryan. Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2010. OECD Publishing. Supporting Investment in Knowledge Capital, Growth and Innovation. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2013. Quaddus, M. A and M. A. B Siddique. Handbook of Corporate Sustainability. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub., 2011. Schwartz, Mark S. Corporate social responsibility. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2011. Simpson, Justine and John Taylor. Corporate governance, ethics, and CSR. London: Kogan Page, 2013. Tapscott, Don, Robert G Eccles and Michael P Krzus. One report. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2013. Read More