Course content

Regulation and enforcement related to sustainability reporting, legal requirements, reporting standards and reporting practices

Accounting practices and reporting quality related to sustainability and social responsibility

Use of and demand for sustainability reporting

Description of ethical challenges within business, administration, and reporting

Introduction to verification of sustainability reporting

The informational value of sustainability reporting

Learning outcome

Knowledge - the student must upon completion have knowledge of

• background and development of the concept of sustainability
• the purposes of sustainability reporting and what quality requirements exist for usability in user information. This, including importance and connections between and differences in reporting on organizational internal and external effects
• reporting requirements and voluntary reporting standards
• verification of sustainability reporting
• factors that influence an organization’s reporting behavior, including impacts of regulations and enforcement, as well as insight into demand and use of sustainability reporting by stakeholders.

Skills - Upon completion, the student must be able to

• Contribute to the planning, implementation, and further development of organizations' sustainability reporting to comply with regulations and provide useful information
• Carry out processes with the identification and analysis of significant external and corporate economic effects related to sustainability
• Assess the organization’s internal control and other critical infrastructure for carrying out sustainability reporting
• Make decisions based on the information from an organization’s sustainability reporting.

General competence - upon completion, the student must:

• Have sufficient theoretical and practical competence to stay up to date on ongoing professional developments within sustainability reporting, regulation and verification
• Be able to exchange professional views and experiences with, and communicate key subject matter to others within the subject area, the profession, and other stakeholders
• Be able to take part in the public debate about how sustainability reporting can contribute to awareness and behavioral change in the direction of sustainable development, as well as to what extent reporting practices are suitable for this and how appropriate reporting can be ensured
• Can use ethical perspectives to nuance the understanding of the organization’s social responsibility, which business economic and external effects it is essential to report and how this can be communicated in the reporting
• Be able to critically reflect on significant matters relating to the relevance and reliability of reporting, regulation, and verification of sustainability information, including transparency, sources of information, used assumptions and reporting principles, as well as the user benefit of the reporting.

Learning methods and activities

This course will use lectures and guest lectures

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

INT3001 Ethics, sustainability and CSR, or similar courses. The course is also based on a basic understanding of financial reporting, something that may be acquired from the courses BØA1100 Managerial Economics and Accounting and BØA1200 Financial Accounts with Analysis.

Required previous knowledge

None

Course materials

Information about the course material will be given at the start of the term