IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/sumafo/v26y2018i1d10.1007_s00550-018-0473-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

In search of materiality for nonfinancial information—reporting requirements of the Directive 2014/95/EU
[Wesentlichkeit(en) in der nichtfinanziellen Berichterstattung – Eine Analyse der Berichtspflichten gemäß Richtlinie 2014/95/EU]

Author

Listed:
  • Josef Baumüller

    (University of Vienna)

  • Michaela-Maria Schaffhauser-Linzatti

    (University of Vienna)

Abstract

Materiality of disclosures is one of the fundamental principles of the nonfinancial reporting regime introduced by the Directive 2014/95/EU (“NFI Directive”). However, despite its close link to the principle of materiality for financial reporting, specific issues arise in the context of these new reporting requirements—leading to a conception that is different also from existing definitions in the field of similar reporting practices. Furthermore, there are different types of “materialities” to be found within the Directive itself. So far, this topic has not been addressed systematically in literature, leaving many questions open and causing confusion by both preparers and readers on nonfinancial reports. Consequently, this paper identifies and links the various types of materiality by analysing, contextualizing and interpreting the relevant sections of the Directive 2014/95/EU and other reporting frameworks. It is shown that despite the expectations of many, with regards to materiality, the reporting requirements of the Directive 2014/95/EU are closer to integrated reporting than it is to sustainability reporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Josef Baumüller & Michaela-Maria Schaffhauser-Linzatti, 2018. "In search of materiality for nonfinancial information—reporting requirements of the Directive 2014/95/EU [Wesentlichkeit(en) in der nichtfinanziellen Berichterstattung – Eine Analyse der Berichtspf," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 101-111, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:sumafo:v:26:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s00550-018-0473-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00550-018-0473-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00550-018-0473-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00550-018-0473-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hummel, Katrin & Festl-Pell, Diana, 2015. "Much Ado About Nothing? Sustainability Disclosure in the Banking Industry," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 16(3), pages 369-393.
    2. Christopher Marquis & Michael W. Toffel & Yanhua Zhou, 2016. "Scrutiny, Norms, and Selective Disclosure: A Global Study of Greenwashing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 483-504, April.
    3. Salzmann, Oliver & Ionescu-somers, Aileen & Steger, Ulrich, 2005. "The Business Case for Corporate Sustainability:: Literature Review and Research Options," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 27-36, February.
    4. Hummel, Katrin & Festl-Pell, Diana, 2015. "Much Ado About Nothing? Sustainability Disclosure in the Banking Industry," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 16(3), pages 369-393.
    5. Stocks, Morris H. & Harrell, Adrian, 1995. "The impact of an increase in accounting information level on the judgment quality of individuals and groups," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(7-8), pages 685-700.
    6. Edgley, Carla & Jones, Michael J. & Atkins, Jill, 2015. "The adoption of the materiality concept in social and environmental reporting assurance: A field study approach," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-18.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Othmar Manfred Lehner & Alex Nicholls & Sarah Beatrice Kapplmüller, 2022. "Arenas of Contestation: A Senian Social Justice Perspective on the Nature of Materiality in Impact Measurement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 971-989, September.
    2. Tiziana De Cristofaro & Carmela Gulluscio, 2023. "In Search of Double Materiality in Non-Financial Reports: First Empirical Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-30, January.
    3. Anca Băndoi & Claudiu George Bocean & Mara Del Baldo & Lucian Mandache & Leonardo Geo Mănescu & Cătălina Soriana Sitnikov, 2021. "Including Sustainable Reporting Practices in Corporate Management Reports: Assessing the Impact of Transparency on Economic Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdulaziz A. Alomran & Kholod F. Alsahali, 2023. "The Role of Long-Term Institutional Ownership in Sustainability Report Assurance: Global Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Katrin Hummel & Christian Schlick & Matthias Fifka, 2019. "The Role of Sustainability Performance and Accounting Assurors in Sustainability Assurance Engagements," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 733-757, February.
    3. Hummel, Katrin & Laun, Ute & Krauss, Annette, 2021. "Management of environmental and social risks and topics in the banking sector - An empirical investigation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    4. Caroline Flammer & Michael W. Toffel & Kala Viswanathan, 2021. "Shareholder activism and firms' voluntary disclosure of climate change risks," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(10), pages 1850-1879, October.
    5. Bianca Alves Almeida Machado & Lívia Cristina Pinto Dias & Alberto Fonseca, 2021. "Transparency of materiality analysis in GRI‐based sustainability reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 570-580, March.
    6. Maria Björklund & Helena Forslund, 2019. "Challenges Addressed by Swedish Third-Party Logistics Providers Conducting Sustainable Logistics Business Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, May.
    7. Hajar Mouatassim Lahmini & Abdelmajid Ibenrissoul, 2017. "Quel effet de la Responsabilité Sociétale de l'Entreprise sur la performance financière d'un opérateur minier/ Approche par l'Analyse Coûts-Bénéfices," Post-Print hal-01746022, HAL.
    8. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    9. Shujun Chao & Shanyong Wang & Haidong Li & Shu Yang, 2023. "The power of culture: Does Confucian culture contribute to corporate environmental information disclosure?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2435-2456, September.
    10. Heyes, Anthony & Lyon, Thomas P. & Martin, Steve, 2018. "Salience games: Private politics when public attention is limited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 396-410.
    11. Olivier Boiral & Marie‐Christine Brotherton & Léo Rivaud & David Talbot, 2022. "Comparing the uncomparable? An investigation of car manufacturers' climate performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2213-2229, July.
    12. Gallear, David & Ghobadian, Abby & Chen, Weifeng, 2012. "Corporate responsibility, supply chain partnership and performance: An empirical examination," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 83-91.
    13. Mario Vaupel & David Bendig & Denise Fischer-Kreer & Malte Brettel, 2023. "The Role of Share Repurchases for Firms’ Social and Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(2), pages 401-428, March.
    14. Mara Del Baldo & Maria-Gabriella Baldarelli, 2017. "Renewing and improving the business model toward sustainability in theory and practice," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Fabien Martinez, 2014. "Corporate strategy and the environment: towards a four-dimensional compatibility model for fostering green management decisions," Post-Print hal-02887618, HAL.
    16. Francesca Bernini & Fabio La Rosa, 2024. "Research in the greenwashing field: concepts, theories, and potential impacts on economic and social value," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(2), pages 405-444, June.
    17. Kurniawan, Putu Sukma, 2018. "An Analysis of Information Materiality on Corporate Sustainability Report Using Information Materiality Map: A Review in Mining Industry in Indonesia," INA-Rxiv 7dzha, Center for Open Science.
    18. Bingler, Julia Anna & Kraus, Mathias & Leippold, Markus & Webersinke, Nicolas, 2024. "How cheap talk in climate disclosures relates to climate initiatives, corporate emissions, and reputation risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    19. Yongbo Sun & Binbin Shi, 2022. "Impact of Greenwashing Perception on Consumers’ Green Purchasing Intentions: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-15, September.
    20. Hutchinson, Mark C. & Lucey, Brian, 2024. "A bibliometric and systemic literature review of biodiversity finance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sumafo:v:26:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s00550-018-0473-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.