Assessing non-financial reports according to the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines: evidence from Greece

In recent years a growing number of companies around the world have started reporting on issues other that those in the financial domain, in order to discharge their accountability efforts. While such non-financial accounting and reporting footprints, in terms of relevant policies and practices, are evident among all regions and such activities are becoming a universal trend, the level of uptake and diffusion varies from country to country. This paper contributes to the country-level analyses of non-financial reporting by assessing the quality and inclusiveness of triple-bottom-line reports published by companies operating in Greece. To accomplish this, a numerical scoring system was devised, based on the de facto global standard on corporate non-financial reporting, the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Overall findings reveal major gaps in the disclosing practices of Greek organizations and denote that there is much room for improvement in order to meet international standards and promote effective engagement with their stakeholders. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.