Survey of Sustainability Reporting Integrated into Annual Reports of Estonian Companies for the years 2007-2010: Based on Companies Listed on Tallinn Stock Exchange as of October 2011

Abstract

Recent years have seen rapidly growing demand for transparency in companies’ reporting. This trend has led to increased popularity of Corporate Sustainability Reporting - a tool regarded by many as means for companies to create additional value by implementing such aspects as social and environmental performance. This study examines social and environmental accounting disclosures in the annual reports of companies listed at Tallinn Stock Exchange in order to determine the current trend in CSR reporting. The survey was conducted among 15 companies representing various industry sectors. Authors have analyzed English web-published annual reports for years 2007-2010. In the course of the survey the authors have discovered that during the research period many companies included separate sections in their annual reports covering corporate sustainability reporting, but this information was also included in the “Letter from Member of the Management Board”, “Brief Introduction of the Company” or in any other section. The study demonstrated continuous uptrend in the number of social and environmental accounting disclosures, and a fairly low number of issued standalone CSR reports. In author's opinion, this demonstrates that Estonian companies show strong intention to integrate sustainability reporting into their annual reports. These findings emphasize the fact, that sustainability reporting is not a “stranger in the night” for Estonian companies but a “friend, one would like to spend more time with”. It also seems obvious that more efforts should be made in Estonia to provide all possible support to companies with regards to sustainability reporting. This support may include: distribution of latest CSR publications, participation in worldwide conferences and seminars on the CSR, training and guidance in preparing social and environmental reports in accordance with modern corporate accountability standards.