Triple Bottom Line Sustainability Reporting: How to Make it More Tangible

Abstract

Corporations are becoming aware that measuring and reporting the financial bottom-line metric alone will not suffice as they develop their business sustainably. Two other corporate metrics, namely, social and environmental bottom-line metrics, are becoming increasingly important in the business narrative. The challenge for today’s corporations is how to communicate their triple bottom line efforts effectively to stakeholders. One of the most common methods is to produce an annual sustainability report that encompasses the three generally accepted corporate social responsibility (CSR) elements: economic, social and environmental. The aim of this study is to analyse the opinions of employees regarding the practical implications of having to produce a business sustainability report. The study found the two main implications to businesses reporting on CSR issues to be a need to (i) improve the methods, measurement and reporting of CSR outcomes, and (ii) provide businesses with education/knowledge in all aspects of CSR.