In today’s business world, sustainability and integrated reporting is considered as an important aspect for the overall success of the business. Sustainability reporting contains a report that helps the companies in disclosing the information about environmental, economic, social and governance performance (Junior, Best and Cotter 2014). On a more specific note, sustainability and integrated reporting is regarded as the practice to measure, disclose and to be responsible to the internal as well as external stakeholders for the performance of the organizations towards the objective of sustainable development (del Mar Alonso-Almeida et al. 2015). This report involves in the analysis and evaluation of different aspects of the sustainability reports of two Australian companies; they are Orica Limited (Orica) and Sandfire Resources NL (Sandfire). Both the companies have adopted the guidelines of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for sustainability reports.
Orica: The main purpose of Orica to provide GRI is to provide the required information to the external as well as internal stakeholders about their different sustainability initiatives. Another major purpose of GRI is to make their customers successful on every day all over the world (orica.com 2018). The adoption of GRI reporting provides the company with the opportunity to operate safely, responsibly and sustainably. To the management of Orica, sustainability reporting is considered as a major factor that makes the company enable in growing and creating enduring values for internal as well as external stakeholder. Another major purpose of GRI reporting in Orica is to establish the values of safety, respect, togetherness, integrity and excellence (orica.com 2018).
Sandfire: In Sandfire, the main purpose for the company for providing GRI reports is to achieve high standards in the areas of safety, environmental management, productivity, governance and transparency. At the same time, another major purpose of GRI reporting in Sandfire is the delivery of positive outcome for the society as well as the environment (sandfire.com.au 2018). On a more specific note, the major purpose for the company for the adopting of integrated reporting is to address the sustainability issues of the company related to four major areas; they are responsible operation, economic development, safe and supported workplace; and respect and accountability in the business operations (sandfire.com.au 2018).
Orica: There are six major stakeholders in the company. The first stakeholder is Employees and constructors; they are important due to career and development opportunities, performance management and leadership. Customers are the next stakeholders and they are related via product performance, reliability, cost, value adding and impact of sustainability on products and services (orica.com 2018). The next stakeholders are Suppliers and Business Partners and they are dependent on the product performance, cost, reliability and others. Shareholders and the Investment Communities are the next stakeholders of the company as they have concern with the company performance, company strategy delivery and governance (orica.com 2018). Community and Local Residence are the next stakeholders as they are concerned with the employment opportunity, social and economic contribution, impact of the business operation and others. The last stakeholder is the Government as they have concern and interest in the company’s regulatory compliance, research and development, addressing of local community issues and others (orica.com 2018).
Sandfire: There are ten major stakeholders in the company. Employees are the first major stakeholders and their concerned areas are health and safety, training and sustainability issues. The next stakeholder is Customers as they are concerned with the quality of products and services for maintaining good relationship with the company (sandfire.com.au 2018). Contractors and Suppliers are the next stakeholders in the company as they are interested in fair and open product and practice procurement. Local Communities are the next stakeholders in Sandfire as they are concerned about the impact of business on the community (sandfire.com.au 2018). Native Title Claimant Groups is another major stakeholder of the company as they are interested in the employment. The next stakeholder is the Shareholders as they are concerned with economic performance of the company. Government and Regulators are the next stakeholders and they are interested in the economic as well as environmental impact of the company. Another stakeholders of the company are Industry Associates, Investment Community and Solar Partners (sandfire.com.au 2018).
Similarities: The main similarity in the sustainability report of both Orica and Sandfire is the adoption of GRI framework as both the companies have complied with the principles of GRI for preparing and presenting the sustainability reports. In addition, both the companies have provided detailed description about the key sustainability issues that have material effects on the business of the companies. Apart from this, both the companies have provided all the required information about the stakeholders for their sustainability reporting. Moreover, both the companies have provided information about their approaches for managing the business and sustainability risks (globalreporting.org 2018).
Differences: There are many differences. First, Sandfire has provided a review of their sustainability performance for the year where this aspect is missing in Orica. It can be seen that Orica has included a sustainability scorecard for the year 2018 where there is not any sustainability scorecard provided in Sandfire. It can be observed that Orica has provided information about their priorities for sustainability reporting, but Sandfire has not provided any information about their sustainability priorities. Hence, from the above discussion, one aspect is clear that the sustainability reports of these companies have both the similarities and differences (globalreporting.org 2018).
The following discussion involves in the critical analysis and evaluation of the sustainability reports of Orica and Sandfire:
Quality of the provided information is a crucial part of sustainability reporting. In addition, three major factors that enhance the quality of information are reliability, relevance and comparability. From the above discussion, it can be observed that both the companies follow the principle of GRI for sustainability reporting (Boiral 2013). The compliance with the principles of GRI ensures that both these companies provide all the required information related to the sustainability performance of the companies. For this reason, the internal as well as external stakeholders of these two companies can rely on the provided sustainability information of the entities. One major aspect helping to retain the reliability aspect is to provide information about the required or necessary areas (Milne and Gray 2013). The major areas of sustainability are environmental, social, human rights, society, safety and others. From the sustainability reports of Orica and Sandfire, it can be seen that both the companies have provided information about some of the major areas like key sustainability issues, risk management approach, steps against the effects of climate change, development of safe and supportive workplace, establishment of accountability and others. All this information is highly relevant for the external and internal stakeholders. Lastly, both the companies have provided all the sustainability information in simple format so that the stakeholders can compare them with the other companies (Lozano 2013).
The analysis of the sustainability reports of Orica and Sandfire shows that both the companies are consistent with complying with the standards of GRI. For the identification of the material issues related to sustainability, Orica follows the GRI standards from G4-17 to G4-23. At the same time, for providing the information related to the governance of the company, the company complies with the standards from G4-34 to G4-52. On the other hand, for disclosing the environmental performance, Orica follows the standards of G4-DMA (Siew 2015).
In case of Sandfire, the company follows the standards of GRI 103 for disclosing the information related to water and waste management of the company. In order to disclose all the information related to the employee safety and others issues, the company follows the principles of GRI 401 and GRI 403. At the same time, the company follows the standards of GRI 305. Apart from these, both these companies follow many other standards of GRI for sustainability reporting (de Villiers, Rinaldi and Unerman 2014).
In today’s business world, all the internal as well as external stakeholders want information related to the sustainability performance of the companies. For this reason, they need information related to the environmental performance, social performance, governance, initiatives to ensure the safety of the employees, risk management approaches and others. From the above discussion, it can be seen that both Orica and Sandfire provides all the information about the above-mentioned aspects of sustainability by complying with the standards of GRI (Milne and Gray 2013). For this reason, both the internal as well as external stakeholders can get all the sustainability information by accessing the sustainability reports of these two companies.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be observed that both Orica and Sandfire comply with the standards of GRI for disclosing all the information related to the sustainability performance. It can be seen that the major stakeholders of these companies are the employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, government, local community and others. The analysis indicates towards the fact that there are both similarities as well as differences between the sustainability reports of Orica and Sandford. Moreover, it can also be observed that both the companies have been constantly following the GRI standards for their sustainability reporting so that they can meet the needs of the stakeholders.
References
Boiral, O., 2013. Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(7), pp.1036-1071.
de Villiers, C., Rinaldi, L. and Unerman, J., 2014. Integrated Reporting: Insights, gaps and an agenda for future research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(7), pp.1042-1067.
del Mar Alonso-Almeida, M., Marimon, F., Casani, F. and Rodriguez-Pomeda, J., 2015. Diffusion of sustainability reporting in universities: current situation and future perspectives. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, pp.144-154.
Globalreporting.org. (2018). About GRI . [online] Available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/information/about-gri/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Globalreporting.org. (2018). Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. [online] Available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Guidelines-Incl-Technical-Protocol.pdf [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Junior, R.M., Best, P.J. and Cotter, J., 2014. Sustainability reporting and assurance: A historical analysis on a world-wide phenomenon. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), pp.1-11.
Lozano, R., 2013. Sustainability inter-linkages in reporting vindicated: a study of European companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 51, pp.57-65.
Milne, M.J. and Gray, R., 2013. W (h) ither ecology? The triple bottom line, the global reporting initiative, and corporate sustainability reporting. Journal of business ethics, 118(1), pp.13-29.
Orica.com. (2018). Orica Sustainability Reports and Orica’s Safety Record . [online] Available at: https://www.orica.com/Sustainability/sustainability-reports#.Wxo9V-6FPIU [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Sandfire.com.au. (2018). 2017 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT. [online] Available at: https://www.sandfire.com.au/images/2017_Sustainability_Report.pdf [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Sandfire.com.au. (2018). Sustainability – Sandfire. [online] Available at: https://www.sandfire.com.au/sustainability.html [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Siew, R.Y., 2015. A review of corporate sustainability reporting tools (SRTs). Journal of environmental management, 164, pp.180-195.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download