This course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of contemporary issues in sustainability and corporate reporting. It will focus on the perspective of preparers of sustainability information and explore the determinants and consequences of companies' decisions in sustainability reporting.

This course covers the latest regulations of sustainability reporting and discusses contemporary issues which are of interest to accounting practitioners and to the wider society. It also enables students to critically evaluate companies' sustainability reporting practices.

11 weekly two-hour teaching sessions (week 11 will be the revision lecture), plus four one hour tutorial sessions.  

The teaching will be in person on campus.

This course will include asynchronous learning activities, including posting questions about the selected papers on Moodle or completing required activities (before or after the lecture), totalling 8 hours across the semester.

None.

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The assessment of the course will include an individual (closed book) written exam (70%), a group written assignment (15%) and a group oral presentation (15%).

The written exam will cover all contents of this course.

The group written assignment is a written critique of a selected paper, and the group oral presentation is to present the key points of the selected paper.

Corporate reporting has always been at the centre of discussion in Accounting, and sustainability has received considerable critical attention in the last few decades. Hence, it is crucial to understand issues related to sustainability reporting.

The class is designed to help students to develop a critical understanding of contemporary issues in sustainability and corporate reporting. It will help students to understand and analyse how companies make decisions in reporting sustainability information, and what the consequences are (such as firm performance and stock market reactions) following their decisions. This course aims to enable students to understand relevant theories and practices in sustainability reporting. It also aims to enable students to understand and critically evaluate recent regulations of sustainability reporting and evaluate corporate decisions in sustainability reporting.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Evaluate theories and practices in sustainability reporting.

2. Analyse companies' decision-making in sustainability reporting and identify factors affecting their decisions.

3. Critically discuss potential consequences of companies' decisions in sustainability reporting. 

4. Critically evaluate current developments in sustainability reporting and regulations.

5. Critically analyse different sustainability reporting standards and their impact.

6. Work collaboratively in a group to develop team working skills by producing a combined piece of coursework.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.