Annual reports are an important source of qualitative information about a company's strategic areas, including sustainability. However, previous work on sustainability assessment has been limited to quantitative indicators that are difficult to obtain. Here, we address this issue by analyzing a company's strategic documents, with the specific aim of demonstrating the role of sustainability and social responsibility in the text of the annual reports of companies in the IT services industry. We demonstrate that this information is a significant determinant of future economic outcomes. Specifically, here we evaluate sentiment in managerial communication in the area of sustainable business by using collocation analysis of topic and sentiment word lists. Several domain-specific word lists were used for each category monitored. Specifically, Loughran and McDonald's word list was used to measure sentiment in the context of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The word list that was developed by Pencle and Malaescu was used for CSR, while novel word lists are proposed for sustainability topics. The results of experiments show that the sentiment of sustainability topics (environmental and social in particular) in the annual reports may be a significant indicator of future profitability and thus represent an important information for corporate stakeholders.Sustainability 2018, 10, 4119 also be conducted, owing to their positive effect on corporate financial performance (CFP) [4]. Chandler [48] analyzed more than 20 case studies to illustrate issues related to CSR, including financial, organizational, and societal issues, and also highlighted the importance of strategic CSR. This finding was also supported by the empirical evidence in [49], suggesting that a lack of success in CSR was a major cause of the financial crisis.The importance of CSR communication was highlighted and a conceptual framework for this communication was developed in [50]. It is argued that such communication is important both in the short-term (supporting stakeholders' favorable behavior and attitudes) as well as in the longer term (affecting stakeholder-company relationships and company's image). In contrast, the lack of the communication is considered to be a barrier to maximize financial benefits from CSR activities. Several communication channels have been proposed for corporate sustainability and CSR in [50], such as annual reports, companies' websites, CSR reports, or advertising. A recent review of literature on CSR communication can be found in [1], identifying legitimacy theory as the dominant theory in examining CSR communication. Companies use their communication channels to manage perceived CSR legitimacy by showing that their activities are appropriate and desirable. Another survey that was performed in [51] finds that minimal releases, such as annual reports and websites, are increasingly preferable communication channels, rather than advertising or company's releases. However, it should also be noted that not all the corp...