Harmonizing Non-financial Information of Business Enterprises in the European Union and Ukraine

Abstract

Apart from financial statements, business enterprises make and submit non-financial reporting regulated by several Directives of the European Union (EU), national law of EU member states and Ukraine. Recently these normative documents required amendments, because users of non-financial reporting were concerned with a broader range of supplementary information. It covers company’s goals and strategies; environmental sustainability; extension of the responsibility of company management and top administrative staff for the assurance of sustainability; the concept of materiality and its analysis; the assessment of risks specific to sustainability, affecting the performance of company and having indirect adverse effects for community and environment; the disclosure of information on intangible assets (human, intellectual and social capital); research, development and innovation; social responsibility before employees, respect to human rights and fighting with corruption and bribery. Therefore, the EU Council approved the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The information disclosure in non-financial report was made the exclusive responsibility of business enterprise management, and it depends on the specific of national law and business activities of an enterprise. Bearing this in mind, the procedure for the compilation of non-financial report was developed, with clarifying the issues that required consideration: structuring of non-financial reporting; setting up the indicators of financial and non-financial reporting; collection of data and estimation of results; preparation, monitoring and presentation of the report. The proposed structuring is meant to help a business enterprise focus on urgent issues of non-financial reporting, first and foremost on highlighting its market sustainability and sustainable development perspectives. A set of indicators characterizing non-financial reports is proposed: ratio of competition intensity, ratio of market advantage, overall index of labor productivity, index of turnover of goods, works and services. Clarifications are made in the basic terminology: non-financial information, nonfinancial reporting, sustainable development, integrated reporting, and corporate reporting. They help make the procedure for monitoring of non-financial reporting regular and transparent for users.