Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as recognized guidelines for sustainability reporting by Spanish companies on the IBEX 35: Homogeneity in their framework and added value in the relationship with financial entities

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to show that among the different ways of reporting sustainability information, there is a majority acceptance of voluntary initiatives to establish a homogeneous framework for transparency. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyses the non financial reporting disclosed in two years (2010 and 2011) by all the companies listed on the Spanish IBEX 35 in 2010. The methodology is based on the study of non financial reporting available on the websites of the companies analysed. Findings: The conclusions highlight that the Global Reporting Initiative sustainability reporting framework has been widely adopted by the firms studied as a global accepted standard in this non financial reporting and as the most important guidelines in this field. From this same descriptive point of view, we conclude that non financial entities which disclose have improved or maintained their banks´ balance sheet positions. Research limitations/implications: This study is based on acceptance as a first step although it needs to be completed with a deeper analysis of the content and its suitability to the stakeholders´ information requirements. This descriptive analysis is therefore a first step in continuing research in this field.-855-Intangible Capital-http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/ic.492 Originality/value: Disclosure of non financial information has been a miscellany of different practices depending on multiple variables. This paper sheds some light on this subject specifically in the comparability of non financial reporting and its relationship with other characteristics of firms.

The role of human and social board capital in driving CSR reporting

“…It is included as a dummy variable that equals 1 if the company is listed on the IBEX-35 index and 0, otherwise (Gallego-Álvarez, García-Sánchez, and Rodríguez-Dominguez, 2010;García-Sánchez, 2008). Due to the IBEX 35 Spanish listed companies are large companies (Ortiz and Marín, 2014), it is expected a positive relationship between the inclusion of the company in the Ibex 35 and CRS disclosure.…”

European Financial Services SMEs: Language in Their Sustainability Reporting

“…All global trends in this field have been adopted by large companies, which are globally shaping the features of disclosure with their voluntary reporting [13]. The generally accepted standards of nonfinancial information are GRI standards because "the GRI guidelines seem to fulfil the need for standards when reporting, identifying and implementing sustainable practices in the companies, since the GRI framework has become, de facto, the standard in sustainability reporting around the world" [14]. Reporting according to GRI standards means there is some kind of homogeneous disclosure as well as use of the GRI database [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

The evolution of web pages for a strategic description of large firms

“…The 35 organisations included in the Madrid Stock Exchange's Ibex index were selected for that purpose. A review of Formariz (2006), Ortiz and Marin (2014), Stock Exchange Society (2017) and the Spanish Stock Exchange (2018) can help clarify why these companies represent such a good cross-sectional sample of Spanish large corporations.…”

“…In short, this study actually offers a realistic overview of large-sized companies in Spain. More financial and economic information about Ibex35 can be found in Ortiz and Marin (2014), the Stock Exchange Society (2017) and the Spanish Stock Exchange (2018).…”