WIG-20 Warsaw Stock Exchange Companies: Are They Ready for Governance Matters Disclosures Based on EU Sustainable Reporting Standards?

Abstract

Theoretical background: In 2022, the European Commission’s intensive efforts to revise and enhance the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) from 2014 resulted in the proposal of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the exposure draft on ESRS EDs (EFRAG Sustainable Reporting Standards Exposure Drafts). The ESRS drafts for public consultation presented the mandatory concepts and principles for sustainability reporting under the CSRD. The implementation of corporate sustainability is closely related to reporting that stimulates robustness of companies’ commitment to sustainability, and sustainable long-term actions taken by companies. Environment is priority, however, having in mind sophisticated environmental performance indicators, it is governance that ensures stakeholders whether the company exercises the sustainable obligations effectively. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to determine EFRAG draft standards compliance with the Warsaw Stock Exchange best practices and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, and an assessment of WIG-20 reporting practices regarding EFRAG draft standards. The main research question was whether and to what extent WIG-20 companies meet the sustainable reporting exposure drafts on governance matters proposed by EFRAG. Research methods: The study method was desk-based research using the gathered corporate data. The assumptions on the importance of governance matters were supported by VOSviewer analysis of Scopus bibliometric database analysis. Main findings: The results of the study have shown that the scope and level of reported disclosures by WIG-20 companies – that are best performing and positive toward sustainability – is insufficient and reporting practices do not meet proposed EFRAG draft standards. The study contributes to scarce research addressing the sustainability reporting approach. It provides a study of the governance maters regarding draft governance reporting ESRS drafts.