Abstract

Financial reports are the most important sources of information for financial information users. Investors, lenders, and other creditors use financial information in their decision making process. Therefore, governmental bodies of financial reporting have mandated disclosing of some financial reports (statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, and statement of changes in equity) for public interest. It has been stated that besides financial information, non-financial information is also important for the users. It is clear that financial information contributes better decisions making when it is supported by non-financial information. Non-financial reports inform stakeholders (e.g., investors, employees, customers, and non-governmental organizations) and the general public about the firm’s activities involving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. In this study we have discussed elements of corporate sustainability reporting and detected sustainability reports of selected public firms in Turkey. Sustainability reports of nine firms have been analyzed based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. The results show that selected firms’ sustainability reports fulfill requirements related to Part I and Part II, “Profile Disclosures” and “Disclosures on Management Approach”, which is mostly consistent with their reports’ application level. However, it is hard to say the same thing for Part III. In fact, firms’ sustainability reports fail to consistently disclose “Performance Indicators”.

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