Business organizations play important roles in society by interacting with a variety of constituencies in creating value for all stakeholders. Corporations report their economic activities and performance in compliance with regulatory requirements and contractual covenants to satisfy financial information demands by investors.

Corporations also voluntarily disclose their non-financial information on corporate governance, ethical, social, and environmental matters for a variety of reasons, including the demand by stakeholders as a means of avoiding the attention of regulatory bodies where sanctions for noncompliance are imminent, to comply with industrial codes and best practice and to fulfill their corporate social responsibility.

Corporate sustainability can be promoted through market forces, mandatory sustainability compliance and a combination of mandatory and voluntary initiatives.

This course covers the role of corporations in society and the drivers of corporate sustainability, along with supporting frameworks in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as promulgated by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We also cover guidelines on sustainability reporting and assurance, best practices of sustainability reporting and assurance and future trends in sustainability performance, reporting and assurance.