REPORTING AND SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING

The course is one of the basic teaching activities of the Sustainable Finance curriculum of the Master's Degree in Economics, Finance, and Sustainability, which aims to provide financial education in line with international standards that allows integrating sustainability dimensions and seizing the opportunities arising from the increasing attention in the financial field to the impacts of climate change and the achievement of sustainable development goals.

The educational objective of the course is to provide knowledge related to: 1) The role and evolution of sustainability reporting and sustainability accounting; 2) The various interpretations of the concept of corporate sustainability and the related indicators for managing and measuring corporate risks, opportunities, and impacts related to sustainability; 3) International sustainability reporting standards and regulations.

Achieving these objectives enables students to acquire the basics for drafting, analyzing, and understanding a sustainability report in accordance with international standards and regulations, as well as discussing the main challenges of sustainability reporting and corporate accountability in general.

Attending and actively participating in the educational activities proposed by the course, along with individual study, will enable students to:

1. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
1.1. Learn the historical origin and theories on sustainability reporting.
1.2. Learn the role of sustainability reporting in corporate reporting.
1.3. Learn the objectives, principles, reporting process, and limitations of sustainability reporting.
1.4. Learn the main international standards on sustainability reporting.
1.5. Learn the regulatory evolution of sustainability reporting.

2. ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
2.1. Learn how to identify the information needs that sustainability reporting must satisfy, in light of the specific characteristics of the individual company.
2.2. Learn how to apply the best sustainability reporting practices.
2.3. Learn how to identify and apply the relevant regulatory sources and the main standards for sustainability reporting.
2.4. Learn how to identify the main critical issues in the sustainability reporting process.

3. MAKING JUDGEMENT
3.1. Ability to make and discuss simple hypotheses and judgments regarding the effectiveness of the sustainability reporting process.
3.2. Ability to critically evaluate the quality and reliability of a sustainability report.

Fundamental notions of business administration and corporate reporting

The course covers the following topics:

• Introduction to sustainability accounting and reporting
• Sustainability accounting: key concepts
• Sustainability reporting: history, framework, regulation and process
• Global Reporting Iniziative (GRI) Standards: principles and content
• EU regulation on sustainability reporting: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive
• European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)
• EU Taxonomy on sustainable activities
• IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards
• Sustainability reporting assurance
• Sustainability management accounting and control
• Sustainability due diligence

Mandatory texts:
- Sustainability Accounting and Accountability, by Matias Laine, Helen Tregidga, and Jeffrey Unerman (third edition, 2022).
- Slides of classes

Optional texts: academic articles will be provided.

Learning is assessed through an oral exam and a project work.

The oral exam aimes to verify that students have acquired the concepts presented during the lectures.

The project work involves a group assignment focusing on the analysis of sustainability reports from one or more companies, with the aim of assessing students’ ability to analyze and express a judgment on sustainability reporting. Evaluation is based on a presentation of the results supported by PowerPoint, which will take place in a session at the end of the course. The group work can be replaced with an individual assignment covering the same content.

The final grade is the weighted average between the grade of the oral exam (70%) and the grade of the project work (30%).

Regarding the grading scale (how grades will be assigned), regardless of attending or non-attending mode:
A. Scores in the range of 18-22 will be assigned when adequate knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
B. Scores in the range of 23-26 will be assigned when good knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
C. Scores in the range of 27-30 will be assigned when good or excellent knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum are demonstrated.
D. Honors will be granted when there is excellent knowledge and applied understanding in reference to the curriculum, and exceptional judgment skills.

The course is divided as follows:
• Face-to-face lessons
• Thematic insights proposed to students who, working in small groups, will have to discuss, analyse and report the results achieved in class
• Corporate guest speakers
• Project work (group or individual)

English

The course is carried out in collaboration with the extended partnership GRINS - Growing Resilient, INclusive and Sustainable, code PE0000018, CUP H73C22000930001, public notice no. 341/2022 of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan ("NRRP"), Mission 4 - Component 2 - Investment 1.3, funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.
As part of the course, meetings with companies’ testimonials involved in the project may be offered, focusing on the development of practical knowledge in the subject matter, as well as the results of the project itself.
This course covers topics related to the Spoke 1 Firms' sustainability - Work Package no. 4.

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This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Circular economy, innovation, work" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development