Sustainable Disclosure Reporting & Conventional Accounting Practices

©Mr. Alok Kumar

Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
E mail:alokaryan2102@gmail.com

Abstract

Greater transparency and better disclosure through responsible accounting keep stakeholders
better informed about the way a company is being managed. Good corporate governance
includes a vigilant board of directors, sensible disclosure and adequate reports of meaningful
information about the board and management process, and a transparent ownership structure.
As per clause (f) of sub regulation (2) of the SEBI LODR Regulation 34, the Annual Report
should contain a Business Responsibility Report describing the initiatives taken by the listed
entity from an environmental, social and governance perspective, in the format as specified by
SEBI. Traditionally, the reporting practices of Indian companies have been poor as compared to
their western counterparts. One reason for slow pace of adoption of responsibility reporting has
also been the lack of demand from Indian investors & stakeholders.

The objective of this paper is to discuss howSEBI’s LODR 2015 - Business Responsibility
Reportcould strengthen the stakeholder’s relationship with the corporates and how management
accountant could play a vital role in reporting and disclosure practice. Such reporting were
voluntary for listed companies by the financial year 2011-12 under NVG SEE Guidelines but from
the financial year 2012-13 reporting under SEBI’s listing agreement Clause 55 became
mandatory for top 100 companies by market capitalization and further it has been now extended
up to top 500 listed companies.

Keywords: Business Responsibility Report, Governance, Disclosure, Clause 55, SEBI, NVG SEE

Introduction

Globally, there is an increased realization and acceptability that superior corporate governance
is necessary to create a business environment of transparency, trust and accountability to
support sustainable economic growth. SEBI with the purpose of convey the basic framework
governing the regime of listed entities in line with the Companies Act, 2013 and at the same
time compiling all the mandates of varied SEBI Regulations/Circulars governing Equity as well
as Debt segments of capital market under the ambit of a single document, has notified SEBI
(listing obligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations (hereinafter referred as “LODR”
or “Listing Regulations”) on September 02, 2015, thereby giving all the listed entities and
Stock Exchanges, a time span of 90 days to implement the said listing regulations. To have a
uniform disclosure policy to follow best in class corporate governance practices with respect
to disclosures, to ensure timely, adequate and accurate disclosure of information on an
ongoing basis.

Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship

Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
Responsibility reporting is still in its formative year’s that’s the reason it has been a vital aspect in
the areas of accounting and finance resulting into the burning topic of concern, research and
discussion among management accountants. The inevitability of responsible reporting in the
annual reports of companies has been felt for long in the Indian scenario focused on identifying
and analyzing the contents and modes of Business Responsibility (BR) Reporting top 500listed
Indian companies.Now a day’s business enterprises are increasingly seen as decisive
components of social system and they are consideredaccountable not merely to their
shareholders from a revenue and profitability perspective but also to the larger societywhich
is also its stakeholder. Hence, adoption of responsible reporting and disclosure practices by
management accountants in the interest of the social set-up and theenvironment are as vital
as their financial and operational performance. This is all the more relevant for listed entities
which,considering the fact that they have accessed funds from the public, have an element of
public interest involved, and areobligated to make exhaustive continuous disclosures on a
regular basis. One of the critical aspects ofresponsible business practices is that businesses
should not only be responsiblebut they should also be seen as socially, economically and
environmentallyresponsible by ensuring better compliance with corporate governance
norms, with this view SEBI has notified new rules making it mandatory for top 500 listed
companies, at the end of every year, to submit business responsibility reports, covering their
activities related to environmentand stakeholder relationships, remaining companies will
come under its ambit in a phased manner.The decision by SEBI is part of larger efforts to
advance corporate governance practices and more transparency in terms of reporting of
various socially responsible activities carried out by the listed entities through SEBI’s LODR
Regulations 2015. The key areas required to be reported by the entities include environment,
social, governance and stakeholder relationships.

Even before SEBI was established in 1992 under the securities and exchange board of
India Act, 1992 continuing disclosure regime as under the Companies Act 1956 existed. But the
major drawbacks of such regime were low frequency (once a year that too limited), little
recourse for non-compliance and no separate specification of set of disclosures for private and
public limited companies. SEBI played an active role in ensuring the incidence of disclosures
on the part of corporate entities is more frequent and vivid by implementing the
recommendations made by various committees for continuing disclosures, corporate
governance, National Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS) (in collaboration with
Institute of charted accountants of India (ICAI.)) All this led to such mandated disclosure
requirements which presented a clearer landscape of a company’s business performance
(Sabrinathan. G, 2010).

Genesis of Business Responsibility Reporting SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015

Management accountants, academicians, regulators and other practitioners have

analyzed and emphasized the role of reporting and disclosure in reducing information
irregularity between insiders (management or major shareholders) and outsiders (minor

Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship

Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
shareholders, creditors, and other stakeholders).It is not only a commitment of an enterprise to
operate in an economic, social and environment sustainable manner while balancing the
interests of diverse stakeholders but basic aim of these reporting and disclosure practices is
twofold, firstly to help businesses to use their entrepreneurship to effectively contribute to the
economic and social betterment of communities and secondly to make their operations
sustainable in a manner that enables them to meet their current needs without compromising
the needs of the future generation. When we are trying to seek information about a business,
how it is being conducted, how it is performing when performance in itself has many contexts
so mere accounting definition is not sufficient. There are various users of accounting
information with their diverse needs for such information. These users are nobody but the
various stakeholders to the business viz. shareholders, investors, lenders, analysts,
researchers, government and various regulatory bodies. Hence the definition of reporting as
provided by GRI G3 guidelines is more apt which states “Reporting is the practice of
measuring, disseminating and being accountable to internal and external stakeholders so as to
provide a balanced and reasonable representation of performance (National Voluntary
guidelines, 2011.)”

Annual Report is the most common public document which serves the information needs
related to corporate form of business. Regulation 34 of the Listing Regulation states that the
listed entity should submit the Annual Report to the stock exchange within 21 working days of
it being approved and adopted in the Annual General Meeting as per the provisions of the
Companies Act, 2013. The rules regarding preparation and publication of annual reports were
also notified by SEBI in official gazette of April 7, 1994 under SEBI (Annual report Rules). The
Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015 (‘LODR’) of the Securities
and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) which incorporates the latest changes made by SEBI in
the erstwhile Clause 49 & clause 55 of the equity listing agreement, has further strengthened
the governance framework for the listed companies. Though the nature of most of the
disclosures in annual report is mandated by the regulator but there is ample scope for the
voluntary disclosures which SEBI requests the corporate entities to come out with voluntarily.
It is not just in the interest of the stakeholders but also in the interest of the corporate entities
as it leads to increased confidence of various stakeholders in the company. This increased
confidence has many dimensions like better access to capital and long term success and
sustainability of the business.

Background: National Voluntary Guidelines for the Social, Environmental and Economic
Responsibilities of Business (NVG-SEE)

The National Voluntary Guidelines for Social, Environmental and Economic

Responsibilities of Business were released by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs GOI, in July
2011. These guidelines have been formulated to encourage adoption of sustainability and
mainstream disclosure on environmental, social and governance metrics. NVG-SEE provides
businesses a framework which enables them to move towards responsible decision making
and urges them to adopt the “triple bottom-line” approach. As per SEBI’s requirement under
clause 49 & clause 55 of the listing agreement all public equities are required to comply with
certain disclosure norms related to corporate governance. SEBI’s decision to get the largest
businesses to adopt the NVG-SEE is a reaffirmation to continue to raise the bar for disclosure
and drive transparency in the marketplace. Companies engaged in commercial activities
Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship
Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
should have strategic approaches for their financial, social and environmental responsibilities.
They should focus on making contributions to the society and protecting the environment in
addition to maximization of profit. Businesses now have to take responsibility for the way their
operations impact society and the natural environment.

On 24th November 2011 SEBI passed a board resolution mandating listed companies to
report in its annual report fillings Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives
undertaken. These disclosures are to done as Business Responsibility (BR) reporting in a
phased manner. In order to facilitate this on August 13 2012 SEBI through its circular
CIR/CFD/DIL/8/2012to all stock exchanges made amendment in listing agreement by inserting
a new clause 55 in the equity listing agreement. Under the revised regulations, from financial
year 2016-17, As per SEBI’s board amendment in 2015 as SEBI (Listing Obligations and
Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 with a view to increase the applicability of
Business Responsibility Reporting (BRRs) to top 500 listed entities. This new clause made
inclusion of Business Responsibility Report (BRR) mandatory in annual report to top 500
listed which earlier came under the purview of National Voluntary Guidelines on Social,
Environmental and Economic (NVG SEE) responsibilities of business.

National voluntary guidelines which were translated into the business responsibility
reporting framework consist of 9 principles related to ethics, transparency and accountability,
sustainable production and sourcing of goods and services, promotion of wellbeing of
employees, prevention of human rights violations, responsiveness towards stakeholder
interest and the interests of vulnerable and marginalized, protection and restoration of
environment, engage in influencing public policy and customer value creation (NVG SEE
Responsibilities of Business, Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India). SEBI’s ruling of mandating
the earlier voluntary disclosures is in sync with the thought behind the very existence of this
institution i.e. ensuring compliance. Though the disclosures under ESG can very well be
debated for staying voluntary in nature but in order to protect the interests of stakeholders
probably SEBI thought to bring them under the purview of compliance. Since it has been made
mandatory for top 500 listed Indian companies, it justifies the rationale behind the protecting
of interests of the stakeholders in the companies which are custodian of large amount of funds
vested in them and the huge amount or resources they have an access to. The principles of
Business Responsibility Report are generic in nature and are applicable to all the companies.

Business Responsibility ReportingFramework - Conformity of SEBI’s Listing Agreements

SEBI defines Business Responsibility Report as a disclosure of adoption of responsible

business practices by a listed company to all its stakeholders. This is important considering the
fact that these companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public
interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive disclosures on a regular basis. SEBI
had prescribed a format for 'Business Responsibility Report' as a mandatory requirement for
top 500 listed companies by SEBI’s Circulars. Other companies are encouraged to use the BRRs
for making disclosures to their stakeholders. BR Report must be submitted as a part of the
annual report as per regulation 34 of SEBI LODR Regulations, 2015.The objective of
incorporating this framework in these guidelines is to helpbusinesses to reach out to their
stakeholders with necessary information and datademonstrating the adoption of these
Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship
Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
guidelines. Drawing a parallel to the existing reporting framework that provides principles
underlying the usefulness of companies’ reported information, the following quality criteria
should be taken into account in selecting indicators that meet the common needs of a wide
range of users of responsibility report:
 Comparability;
 Relevance and materiality;
 Understandability; and
 Reliability and verifiability.
A BR Report contains a standardized format for companies to report the actions
undertaken by them towards adoption of responsible business practices, to provide basic
information about the company, information related to its performance and processes, and
information on principles and core elements. It also provides a set of generic reasons which
the company can use for explaining their inability to adopt the business responsibility strategy.
Clause 55 of the Listing agreement: Listed entities shall submit, as part of their annual
reports, Business Responsibility Reports, describing the initiatives taken by them from an
environmental, social and governance viewpoint.As per clause (f) of sub regulation (2) 34 of the
SEBI LODR Regulation 2015, the Annual Report should enclose a Business Responsibility Report
describing the initiatives taken by the listed entity from an environmental, social and governance
perspective, in the format as specified by SEBI.
Criteria for the BR report
The listed entities who have been submitting sustainability reports tooverseas
regulatory agencies/stakeholders based on internationally acceptedreporting frameworks
need not prepare a separate report for the purpose of theseguidelines but only furnish the
same to their stakeholders along with the details ofthe framework under which their BR
Report has been prepared and a mapping ofthe principles contained in these guidelines to the
disclosures made in theirsustainability reports. The above listing conditions are specified in
exercise of the powers conferred under Section 11 read with Section 11A of the Securities and
Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.

Business Responsibility Report - Suggested Framework

Core Principles of Business Responsibility Report

Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship
Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
One of the basic features of BRReport is that they are principle-based and not rule-based.

Principle 1 Businesses should conduct and govern themselves with Ethics,

Transparency and Accountability.
Principle 2 Businesses should provide goods and services that are safe and contribute
to sustainability throughout their life cycle.
Principle 3 Businesses should promote the wellbeing of all employees.
Principle 4 Businesses should respect the interests of, and be responsive towards all
stakeholders, especially those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and
marginalized.
Principle 5 Businesses should respect and promote human rights.
Principle 6 Businesses should respect, protect, and make efforts to restore the
environment.
Principle 7 Businesses, when engaged in influencing public and regulatory policy,
should do so in a responsible manner.
Principle 8 Businesses should support inclusive growth and equitable development.
Principle 9 Businesses should engage with and provide value to their customers and
consumers in a responsible manner.

Principle 1: Itencompasses all the policies and practice of doing business with transparency
and accountability following ethics and good corporate governance. Further, the business
should not engage in practices that are abusive, unfair and corrupt. Following P1 in letter and
spirit will make business attractive for FIIs, investors, Banks to invest and easy access to
capital at better terms, more honest employees would be attracted to join, increase the
customer base and thereby enlarge market coverage with growth in revenue, enhance brand
value and image of the company, win the confidence of government and regulators and
considerable reduction in litigation.

Principle 2: It encompasses that the products are of good quality, safe for consumer,
economical and eco-friendly by ensuring that the manufacturing processes and technologies
used are resource efficient and sustainable. The emphasis should be maximizing the output by
using limited resources optimally. This principle would attract more customers thereby
enlarge market coverage with revenue growth, reduce the risk of actions by customers,
regulators, government and NGOs, better brand identity would enhance the image.

Principle 3: It encompasses all policies and practices relating to the dignity and wellbeing of
employees engaged within a business or in its value chain by providing a better workplace
environment that is safe, hygienic and humane and which upholds the dignity of employees,
providing training for skill development and career advancement, respect the right to freedom
of association, participation and effective grievance redressal system, not to use child labour
and take cognizance of the work-life balance of its employees, especially that of women.
Following this principle would make employee satisfied, reduce absenteeism and separation,
maintain high morale, create good relationship and thereby increase productivity with
reduction in cost of production, preferred employer, quality product, enlarged market,
enhanced image and positive response from government, trade unions, and regulators.

Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship

Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
Principle 4: It encompasses all policies and initiatives for meeting the social obligations
towards internal and external stakeholders, especially those who are marginalized, vulnerable
and disadvantaged such as illiterate adults, SC/ST communities, visually impaired etc. by
identifying them, understand their concern, formulate programmes and schemes for their
benefits and thereby resolve differences with stakeholders in just, fair and equitable manner.
Following this principle in letter and spirit would enhance image of the company and
positively supported by the government, media, investors, NGOs, employees and customers
and long term growth can be ensured.

Principle 5: It recognizes that human rights are inherent, universal and indivisible, in view of
the Constitution of India and international laws/policies, for treating human being with dignity
and respect. Following this principle would comply with the laws of land in letter and spirit
and consequently reduce litigations and positively supported by the employees, government,
NGOs, regulators and image of the company will be enhanced.

Principle 6: It recognizes that environmental responsibility is a prerequisite for sustainable

economic growth and for the well being of society. The principle encourages businesses to
understand environmental impacts of their operations, products and services and to strive to
make them more environment friendly by creating wealth for society, improving lives of
communities, caring for the environment, utilize natural and manmade scarce resources in an
optimal and responsible manner, adoption of cleaner production methods, promoting use of
energy efficient and environment friendly technologies, use of renewable energy.

Principle 7: It encompasses that any company which is member of any trade and chamber
association like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI), All India Management Association, etc. should act responsibly
while advocating/lobbying through such associations for improvement of public good, overall
benefit to the society and which do not serve any sectarian interest. Following this principle
would enable the company to perform the duty in letter and spirit and would be positively
seen by all the stakeholders i.e. government, media, investors, NGOs, employees and thereby
enhance image of the company.

Principle 8: Itencompasses all policies and practices relating to inclusive growth and
equitable development through innovative practices, products and services that particularly
enhance access and allocation of resources to the poor and the marginalized groups of the
society through in-house teams or external agencies, NGOs etc. Following this principle would
enable Company to meet its obligations towards society and help in maintaining cordial
relations with media, government, NGOs, regulators and customers. This will stimulate
innovative thinking at the management level.

Principle 9: Itrecognizes that business should strive to make available goods that are safe,
competitively priced, easy to use and safe to dispose off, for the benefit of their customers. This
principle would attract new customers, increase customer’s loyalty and thereby enlarge
market coverage, reduce the risk of actions/litigation by customers, regulators and
government and thereby enhance image of the company.

Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship

Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
Though uptake of Business Responsibility Report by Indian companies has been slow in the
past, the new SEBI regulation is likely to provide the necessary impetus and increase adoption
by all companies. There’s a whole gamut of disclosures and reporting a listed company is
supposed to comply with. SEBI guidelines and regulations from time to time and listing
agreement of stock exchanges mandate entities to disclose required information in order to
raise capital from the securities markets. This philosophy of disclosure is premised on the
simple idea that securities represent a bundle of rights which are not visible to an investor of
securities and such investors must know about the underlying company and the nature of the
bundle of rights before they take an investment decision. (Ramanathan, Ramesh)

SEBI’sinstructions mandating the large companies to follow a reporting framework will

fall into these options:

Failure to provide Business Responsibility Report will be construed as non-compliance

with Clause-55 of Equity Listing Agreement. However, no particular level of compliance with
NVG has been mandated. The format has been provided to capture information in a
comparable manner which is important to be adhered to. Companies are advised to follow the
format so that the reports of various companies are comparable to each other. Companies may,
however, add tables, graphs etc. to capture the data that enhance the quality of information. In
case the company is not providing full Business Responsibility Report and is providing only the
mapping of BRR in annual report, it is expected to ensure that such mapping is carried out to
the reports (which may be released earlier or later than the Annual Report) that are drawn over
same reporting period. Companies may provide full Business Responsibility Report as a part of
their Annual Report or as a green initiative, host the Business Responsibility Report on their
website and provide appropriate reference to the same in the Annual Report. Companies may
also provide guidance on how a shareholder may request physical copy of the Business
Responsibility Report from the company, if so desired. If the company provides the annual
report mentioning that company publishes the any such reports under GRI framework along
with a mapping as per the SEBI Circular and Clause 55 of Listing Agreement and indicates that
the report would be available on its website providing website link for the same, it would be
Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship
Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
treated as sufficient compliance of the clause 5(a) of the BRR mandating. BRRs have to be
furnished to the stock exchange where it is listed in electronic format. In case of an MNC which
has its subsidiary in India and which produces a single Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report,
the subsidiary is required to prepare its separate business responsibility report highlighting
the responsible business practices it has put in place in India.

The Road Ahead

Notification of SEBI listing regulations can be seen as a welcome move by SEBI streamlining
and consolidating the post listing requirements under the listing agreement and various SEBI
circulars. This would aid in simplifying doing business in India through a listed company and
also increase transparency which in turn would boast investor confidence for investing in
Indian listed companies. A separate section/segment on Business Responsibility Report
briefing about new initiatives taken for reducing environmental impact, conservation of
energy/water, recycling of waste materials, encouraging community environmental
stewardship, and its CSR policy should invariably be on the website of the company. Such
mandatory reporting by companies gives an opportunity to exhibit to the society the initiatives
taken towards various stakeholders and enhanced the image/reputation worldwide. Reporting
on the environmental, social and economic responsibilities of business has multiple benefits in
terms of enhanced revenue growth and market access, cost savings, increased access to capital,
better risk management and improved brand value and reputation.Such responsible reporting
also reduces the possibility of wrongdoing and with due course of time build strong bond with
the stakeholders (Kumar. A).

It’s time to make it mandatory for all the companies to submit their BRReport.This responsible
reporting process needs to be monitored and evaluated through periodic assessment,
verification and impact analysis of its performanceon various principles and core elements.
Any deviation from thelaid down processes need to be recorded, analyzed and taken upfor
process correction as well as mitigation of any loss/damageto the company and its
stakeholders, so the role of management accountant and other concern executives is also quite
turn out to be imperative. Business should focus oninnovation in products, processes and
methods of stakeholders'engagement, so as to continuously improve its performance on
allbusiness processes that impact the principles and core elements while maintaining long
lasting relationship with their stakeholders. (Dagar, Kailash., & Dagar, Dhanraj. 2011). More so,
since the BRR are principle based and will require exercise of judgment by the company
management. In doing so, there will be a need for managements accountants & executives to
exercise their judgment in the best interest of the stakeholders. On the other hand, companies
also need to be given enough time to understand and assess the impact of such reports.
Management accountant should ensure material information and its disclosure also holds the
key to the effective implementation of the whole compliance exercise. It is hoped that a
separate department at SEBI shouldmonitor the BRR submitted by such companies and clarity
on the all other concern issues would come within time.

Conclusion
As the business for sustainability emerges stronger withevery passing year, policy-makers and
regulators across theworld have been seeking better disclosure in order to induce
Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship
Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
thecorporate sector to acknowledge and manage the environmentaland social externalities of
their business operations and to maketheir governance processes more robust and
transparent. Thus vide this recent amendment, is issued by SEBI considering the fact that the
listed companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest
involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive continuous disclosures on a regular basis. FY
2015 has thus been a landmark year as it is the first year in which the annual reports of the
companies reflect the governance and disclosures changes laid down as per SEBI’s LODR
guidelines. The introduction of LODR is a welcoming move of SEBI that aims at streamlining the
existing listing agreements for varied instruments of the capital market into one single document
across various types of securities listed on the stock exchanges. However, there are two major
concerns arising from the Regulations that need to be addressed. One is pertaining to the
provisions for filing of Annual Report with the Stock Exchanges post AGM and another is
pertaining to change in name of the listed entities.For successful implementation of BRR in
letter and spirit, it is necessary that in addition to Chairman/Managing Director/ Executive
Directors, the Management accountant should also give more emphasis that all the enunciated
principles are integrated and embedded in the core business processes of the company and
thereby play a proactive role in convincing the top management that adopting these principles
is crucial for success.

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Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.
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Business Responsibility Report: Governance Mechanism to Manage Stakeholders Relationship

Copyright © Alok Kumar
Research Scholar, Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi UP, India.