Corporate sustainability reporting of major commercial banks in line with GRI: Bangladesh evidence

Abstract

2011),"The use of multiple performance measures and the balanced scorecard (If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/ authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to examine the tendencies of sustainability reporting by major commercial banks in Bangladesh in comparison with global sustainability reporting indicators outlined in the GRI framework together with banks' predilection toward reporting 16 GRI financial service sector (FSS) specific performance indicators.Design/methodology/approach -Based on the GRI G3 guidelines, the paper investigated banks' reporting in five broad areas of sustainability, such as environment, labour practices and decent works, product responsibility, human rights and society. The 2008/2009 annual reports of 12 major commercial banks listed on Dhaka stock exchange were analysed and coded using a content-based technique.Findings -The results show that information on society is addressed most extensively with regard to extent of reporting. This is followed by the disclosures prepared on decent works and labour practices and environmental issues. Furthermore, the disclosures of product responsibility information and the information for human rights are rather scarce in banks' reporting; on the subject of FSS-specific disclosures, only seven items out of 16 are disclosed by all sample banks.Research limitations/implications -The findings of the study indicate that Bangladeshi commercial banks' social disclosures could develop in this style to become more holistic and over time (in association with the country's central bank involvement) to resemble a type of structured reporting to the point where they are properly labelled per se.Originality/value -The study contributes to the social disclosure literature, in particular in a developing countries banking sector context, seeing as it disseminates evidence of the standing on social disclosures practices at the level of GRI with developing countries' banks data.

The Compliance of the Integrated Reports Issued by European Financial Companies with the International Integrated Reporting Framework

“…While the authors of [45] report low disclosure of social information and no disclosure of environmental policy, authors of [46] notice concerns in this area driven by the legitimacy theory. The most common CSR aspects covered by banks in their reports are: community involvement [46][47][48][49], human resources [45,47,48,[50][51][52], and product and customer disclosures [51,53]. In line with the characteristics of the sector, the environmental aspects seem to be the least presented [43,45,46,49,51,53].…”

Sustainability Reporting Practices: Evidence from Bangladesh

“…According to the study of Khan et al (2011), banks commitment towards decent works, labor practices and environmental items were found more than product responsibility and human rights and it has also been evidenced that banks addressed a small number of GRI G3 indicators. Banks propensity to follow financial sector specific (FSS) GRI guidelines are very low.…”

“…Therefore, sustainability has become a matter of concern in Bangladesh. Given that the financial institutions are commanded towards moving sustainable development in the course of their influence as the providers of finance to businesses in other sectors of the economy, they can act as a major nexus in the aim of implementing the principles of sustainability in nations and communities as a whole (Khan, Islam, Fatima & Ahmed, 2011). This has led to an earnest need to investigate the sustainability reporting practices by the companies in Bangladesh.…”

Analysis of Environmental Accounting and Reporting Practices of Listed Banking Companies in Bangladesh

“…Thus, banks are related both directly and indirectly to environmental issues. Recently, Bangladeshi banking companies have implemented international award-winning large-scale corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs [17]. Furthermore, Bangladeshi banks are practicing global sustainability reporting, with some banks preparing their sustainability reports according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) [18].…”