SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS AND INTEGRATED REPORTS THEIR IMPORTANCE IN DECISION MAKING AND RELATIONSHIP WITH LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE IN LATIN AMERICAN BANKS

Toronto

Simposio; Qualitative Accounting Research Symposium; 2020

Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph

The presentation of non-financial reports such as Sustainability Reports and Integrated Reports, has increased at different rates worldwide as well as regulations and presentation bodies. Their usefulness in decision making, the consequences of their presentation and the way they affect the performance of the organization are questioned and criticized (Govindan et al., 2020). The measurement of the long-term performance of an organization in relation to its social, economic and environmental impact has been investigated for a long time since social recognition of companies that allocate their resources to obtain healthy ecosystems, social equity and good governance is growing. That is why organizations began to be increasingly required to make their actions transparent by publishing their policies and activities, giving greater credibility, trust, transparency, reliability and legitimacy to the information presented according to their interests. In this way, international standards emerge such as those of the Global Reporting Initiative [GRI] or those of the International Integrated Reporting Council [IIRC]?, providing frameworks and guides on what and how to report social responsibility actions in each link of the value chain and each stakeholder. They propose the integration of financial and non-financial information in a single report incorporating new ideas that helps investors to assess the future prospects of companies and provide solutions to overcome the frequent criticisms of traditional accounting reporting models (De Villiers et al., 2016). Research such as that of Buallay (2018), Beretta et al. (2018) and those of Needles et al. (2016 and 2018) studied the relationships between sustainable practices and performance in companies.