Non-financial information of Spanish companies and financial evolution

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of the non-financial information reporting in Spain and evaluate if it is related to the financial evolution of the companies. Design/methodology/approach - Sustainability reporting has been studied based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. The sample gathers Spanish large firms listed on the IBEX 35 in 2010. The period of the analysis covers six years, from 2010 to 2015. Findings - The main results are that almost every company applies the GRI standards to the reports. The common is to apply limited or moderated assurances to the reports and ask for the insurance of the “big four.” The reporting is evolving from specific corporate social responsibility reports to the integrated reports which join financial and non-financial performances. The evolution of the earning per share and dividend per share (DPS) of the companies is moderately related with the sustainable reporting and highlights the positive relationship between the last GRI version, the combination level of assurance and the use of engineering firms with the financial evolution, mainly DPS. Originality/value - The most important contribution of this paper is to add some extra information to the relationship between non-financial information and financial features of the companies, and in the case of Spain, where there are not so many previous studies and it is an important benchmark in Europe.