Transition to sustainability reporting: evidence from EU and Ukraine

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal of UN (Goal 12.6), the accounting statements of the Association Agreement with the European Union and Section IV of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Ukraine and the EU, Sustainability strategies “Europe – 2020” and “Ukraine – 2020”, the provisions of Directive 2014/95/EU are the guidelines for constructing a sustainability reporting system of Ukrainian companies because of the low level of corporate social responsibility perception in the national environment and the need for implementation of European integration initiatives. Sustainability reporting comparative analysis of European and Ukrainian companies has been performed basing on the GRI data for 1999-2016. This allows us to conclude about proportionality and comparability in the use of research database. However, the results of this study indicate significant differences in the level of sustainability reporting development in Ukraine and the EU. This primarily refers to the number of organizations that make reports and dynamics of disclosure during the period of 1999-2016, company size, industry characteristics and type of applied reporting standards. Based on the analysis carried out the authors formulated the main causes, consequences and trends in national practice of sustainbility disclosure in the context of implementing of Directive 2014/95/EU. Thisresearch may contribute to the existing literature in regard identifying key areas ofsustainability reporting development in Ukraine on the basis of comparison with the best European experience and its compliance with the requirements of Directive 2014/95/EU. Among the issues that require further research, we should recall the relationship between the formation of the corporate social responsibility model and sustainability reporting disclosure as well as the influence of the institutional environment. Among the perspective areas of research, the expand of time horizons of analysis for the 2017-2018 years after the publication of the first reports prepared in accordance with the requirements of Directive 2014/95/EU is worth noting. Limitations of the research carried out сoncerning the size of the sample of Ukrainian companies were analyzed.