The Sustainability Reporting: Current Performance and Prospects of Implementation

The article provides a characterization of the current performance of the sustainability reporting in the Ukrainian business sector and outlines the features specific to its implementation by domestic business entities. Issues of corporate social responsibility, disclosure of information about social investment in the sustainability reporting have been increasingly urgent for Ukraine, which determined the relevance of this study. Present-day realities and existing challenges exacerbate the problems of elaborating organizational and methodological framework for implementation, compilation and submission of the sustainability reporting by domestic enterprises. Issues of normative and legal regulation are ones particularly requiring in-depth studies. The authors used general and special methods of scientific research: system approach encompassing analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, expert assessment and sample observations, abstraction and generalization, etc. It was demonstrated that the social accounting and the environmental accounting should be interpreted as the related components extending the boundaries of the sustainability accounting rather than the separate types of accounting. The concept of sustainable development resulted from a combination of social, economic and environmental vectors was examined. The paradigm of social corporate responsibility was outlined as a system of ethical views aimed at compliance with the principles of social justice. The increasing importance of socially responsible business activities, their efficiency and linking to the community needs on the way toward sustainable development were emphasized. It was argued that the sustainability reporting, once implemented by Ukrainian enterprises, would help enhance the transparence of economic performance indicators and simplify the access to information on the business environment where business entities operate. It would help improve the management scheme, reduce adverse environmental effects and create more transparent terms for investment. The conclusion was made about the importance of a more active role of the state in extending the social activities in the business sector, with emphasizing the need in elaborating public models of social projecting with involving business entities, allowing to replace a situational response with a long-term planning of social transformations.