The financial crisis has made clear how non-sustainable economic activity could destroy values. With investor protection as its primary target, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently discussing the implementation of mandatory disclosure requirements for companies regarding Sustainable Development (SD)1. Such a duty to report has existed in the European Union for large capital companies since 2003. The Accounting Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC regulate the content of (consolidated) annual reports: „To the extent necessary for an understanding of the company’s development, performance or position, the analysis shall include both financial and, where appropriate, non-financial key performance indicators relevant to the particular business, including information relating to environmental and employee matters;“ These directives were implemented by the EU member states. Nevertheless the Federation of European Accountants (FEE) declared at the end of 2008 that SD information in annual reports had to be improved2. Leading institutional investors also evaluated this quality of reporting as insufficient. More…

Source: SD-M