Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as recognized guidelines for sustainability reporting by Spanish companies on the IBEX 35: Homogeneity in their framework and added value in the relationship with financial entities

Abstract

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to show that within the different ways to report the sustainability information, there is a mostly acceptance of voluntary initiatives to establish a homogeneous framework for transparency.

Design/Methodology/Approach: In this paper we analyse the non financial reporting disclosed in the last two years (2010 and 2011) by all the companies listed on the Spanish IBEX 35 in 2010. The methodology has been based on the study of the non financial reporting available in the web sites of the analysed companies.

Findings: The conclusions obtained highlight that the Global Reporting Initiative sustainability reporting framework has been mostly adopted by the studied firms as a global accepted standard in this non financial reporting and as the most important guidelines to standardize these issues. From this same descriptive point of view, we conclude that non financial entities which disclose have increased or maintained in a majority their banks´ balance sheet positions.

Originality/Value: Disclosure of non financial information has been a miscellaneous of different practices depending on multiple variables. Nowadays this paper seeds some light in this subject in the way to the comparison and homogeneity of sustainability reporting and its relationship with other firms´ characteristics.

Research limitations: This study is based on acceptance as a first step although must be completed with a deeper analysis of the content and its adequacy to the stakeholders´ information requirements. So, this is a descriptive analysis as a first step to go on researching in this field.