Sustainability Accounting: Pros, Cons, and Standards

Corporate social responsibility and sustainability are all used interchangeably to describe a new trend companies and organizations are participating in. Companies publishing sustainability reports have increased from 20% of the S&P 500 Index in 2011 to 86% in 2018. With the rise of this trend comes an acknowledgment that sustainability reports are now published by large companies in addition to their financial reports. The purpose of this paper is to detail the pros and cons of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or the "triple bottom line" and compare the popular global standards for sustainability reporting and the newly established standards for U.S. public companies. The guidelines included in this paper are the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Industry-Specific Standards. In addition, this paper takes a look at assurance in the realm of sustainability reporting.