Journal of Finance and Economics, 2017, Vol. 5, No. 6, 253-258 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfe/5/6/1 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/jfe-5-6-1 Need for Harmonisation of Sustainability Reporting Standards Thejo Jose * Department of Business Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia *Corresponding author: Thejo11@gmail.com Abstract This paper aims to discuss the importance of sustainability reporting in the current business contexts and whether there is a need for standardization of sustainability reporting standards. The existing sustainability reporting standards are analyzed initially as review of literature to understand their content and scope. Since IFRS is adopted by majority of nations worldwide, the suitability of IFRS is discussed based on secondary data. Assessment of recent literature and secondary data leads to the conclusion that the plurality of reporting standards lead to the reduced comparability and therefore there is a need for IFRS relating to sustainability reporting. But it must be carried out after conducting cost-benefit analysis and checking the legitimacy of those standards. Keywords: Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), International Financial Reporting standards (IFRS), comparability, reliability Cite This Article: Thejo Jose, “Need for Harmonisation of Sustainability Reporting Standards.” Journal of Finance and Economics, vol. 5, no. 6 (2017): 253-258. doi: 10.12691/jfe-5-6-1. 1. Introduction According to Ho & Taylor [1], “In the global business and economic contexts, long-term sustainability has become very important as a basis for investment decisions, and consumers are growing more conscious of the social and environmental performances of the entities from whom they buy goods and/or services”. They also mentioned about the stakeholders being concerned more about the social responsibility and environment friendliness of Companies apart from their economic performance. Long gone are the days where investors and other stakeholders gets satisfied with the profitability, dividend payment and other financial performance indicators. Highly integrated and relevant information is the requirement of wide base of stakeholders. Elkington [2] came up with the concept of “triple bottom line” (TBL) proposing that financial reporting should expand beyond traditional bottom-line income as a measure of success which should also include information about social and environmental performance. Hence it can be fairly assumed that sustainability matters are indistinguishably have an impact on long term survival of Companies and society. The financial insinuations ascending from the dearth of recognition of sustainability matters is certainly tough to account for with reliability in the absence of a conceptual framework. From an environmental sustainability outlook, present prices may not incorporate all environmental matters. It is understood that the externalities of a private decision made by an individual or Company concerning environmental costs affects the society as a whole. Hence it is commonly argued that these costs should be monetised, internalised and accounted for such that the costs are borne only by the entity concerned [3]. Over the recent past, many Companies across the world stated publishing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Sustainability Reports to balance their traditional financial reporting. Companies use various sustainability reporting standards or develop their own reporting frameworks basing upon the existing ones. The variations in practices started affecting the basic requirements of financial reporting like the true and fair view, quality and comparability. This led to a discussion regarding the need for convergence of standards across globe to promote comparability and decision making. International Financial Reporting standards (IFRS) have been adopted worldwide and gaining acceptance as a global accounting standard. Hence a demand from stakeholders regarding a global standard from IASB is in context. This paper aims to discuss identify and justify drivers in support of the case for an International Financial Reporting Standard concerning sustainability. The impact of such standards and associated accounting harmonisation initiative on the application of sustainability and concerned benefits from sustainability reporting is also under the purview of this study. 2. Sustainability Accounting A sustainability report is “a report published by a company or organization about the economic, environmental and social impacts caused by its everyday activities. ... Building and maintaining trust in businesses and governments is fundamental to achieving a sustainable economy and world”.