Abstract

This paper examines the patterns of sustainability reporting in South Asian countries. A total of 99 sustainability report published in 2014on the website of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was reviewed. Through content analysis of these reports, this paper identifies areas that are well developed – such as report demographics, management & board statements, discussion on sustainability dimensions, pictured representations in the reports, stakeholder engagement process, and disclosure against corruption. However the discussion on non-conformances, identification of the audience for the reports, third-party assurance and materiality analysis are underdeveloped. This study contributes to the existing literature by studying the phenomenon in South Asian countries and by identifying and examining additional key areas of investigation (e.g. Materiality analysis, stakeholder engagement process, pictured presentation, report type, status and level) that were ignored by previous studies. This paper informs prepares and policy makers to focus their attention on the areas that are under-developed.