Sustainable Development Reporting in Accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines: An investigation of Selected Nigerian Firms
Abstract:
The study investigated
the extent to which firms have applied the global reporting initiative index in
their sustainable reports. Data for this research was obtained from secondary sources
purposefully from five Nigerian banks and five manufacturing firms that have consistently
provided sections for sustainable reporting in their annual reports. Thus, the annual
report and account of selected companies as well as their Sustainability reports
were examined. The study adopted a qualitative method of data analysis. Content
and thematic analyses were used to analyses the qualitative data with the aid of
NVivo software. The findings revealed that sustainable development from the perspective
of a triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental) is very appropriate
and useful as all sampled firms provided information on the global reporting initiative
index. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that organizations that want to
succeed in the highly competitive 21st century business environment must integrate
and balance economic, social and environmental bottom lines in their activities
and report all its efforts in achieving these to its stakeholders. The study recommends
that organizations should intensify efforts in having comprehensive sustainable
reports outside the annual reports which is in line with global best practices.
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