International non-financial reporting systems from the perspective of establishing the sustainable development concept

Abstract

Under modern conditions of the growing trend of sustainable development the issue of disclosing relevant, high-quality and user-friendly reports of non-financial information about the economic, environmental and social aspects of business entities’ activities is of particular importance. The purpose of the article was to study international non-financial reporting systems from the perspective of establishing the sustainable development concept to substantiate the directions for improving the process of information disclosure about sustainable development by business entities. The comparative analysis, abstract-logical generalization, historical and chronological methods have been applied. The evolution of the sustainable development concept has been studied and the key characteristics of the stages of its formation at all levels of the management hierarchy have been identified. The peculiarities and areas of application of the most widespread modern international non-financial reporting systems among economic entities have been studied and their general characteristics and shortcomings have been summarized. The ways of improving the process of such information disclosure in accordance to the set requirements have been suggested in the following areas: the development of the state non-financial reporting standard on sustainable development, which is based on the concept of the triple bottom line and contains provisions for drawing up a report that must be standardised according to the Sustainable Development Goals; the introduction of a mandatory audit of such reporting and the business entity responsibility for its non-submission; the creation of conditions for the training of persons responsible for drawing up non-financial reporting on sustainable development and those performing its audit; the provision of development and free software distribution for compiling and submitting such reports. The practical significance of the obtained results is stipulated by the creation of prerequisites for increasing the awareness of business entities regarding activities in the direction of sustainable development and increasing the effectiveness of the state policy of sustainable development.