The GRI Reporting Framework

The GRI sustainability reporting standard guidelines are important in order to ensure a quality data report. This framework is used effectively by the company in order to maintain overall sustainability standard. These standards are addressed in the company annual reports. On the other hand the G4 guidelines related to issues like shareholders inclusiveness to identify the stakeholder’s involvement and other reports. Similarly the Westpac bank, a leading private bank of Australia always tries to maintain the corporate sustainability reports related to their operations. Therefore all these issues are properly maintained in the annual report of the company.

The sustainability goals of Westpac banks relies over the following aspects. These are as follows-

The sustainability strategy imposed by the bank is associated to the materiality assessment and it focuses on implementing effective financial goals to business like-

• Helping the people with better financial decisions.
• Helping the people at that time when it matters most to the people.
• Helping the people to create a prosperous nation.

Thus these three areas leads to the commitment to foster a culture of care and doing the right thing to the business. On the other hand the sustainability reporting process ensures policies, plan of action, frameworks and metrics reporting etc. all these reporting techniques will have an effect over the climate change and reconciliation of action plan.

As per the GRI g4 sustainability reporting the sustainability performance of Westpac bank focuses on a number of aspects like-

• The company has continued to offer a range of products including wes smart plan to clear issues related to credit card and debt easily and to implement flexible savings process (Fernandez-Feijoo et al.,2014).
• Delivered communications promoting the financial capability for customers including children.

They have also ensured a draught assistance package of $100 million to the affected countries. In this way they have maintained overall sustainability to the society and environment. Thus these have created a major impact on the profitability of the bank.

Part A

The environmental sustainability reporting is considered as another important approach which is directly associated with the operation of Westpac bank. However it is seen from the annual report of the company that the company had maintained the carbon neutral status overall throughout their operation. It is seen from the aspect that during the financial year the company had received a 4.4 percent of reduction in the greenhouse gas emission as compared to that of 2017 and 2018. The company had also achieved approximately 20 percent reduction in the value of group paper commission compared to the financial year 2017 and had also tracked an overall record of 40 percent reduction to the process. The waste disposal is another areas where the company had gained a full advantage. It is seen that the waste landfill in the Australian offices had been estimated to reach a height of 15 percent overall reduction in the current financial year. Another important area to concentrate in this case is the overall water management and disposal plans. It is seen from this aspect that the overall water consumption level is expected to be risen to a 40 percent reduction in the year 2020. Further the company had also opted for creation of a task force related to the climate financial disclosures. Thus as per the overall sustainability reporting standard it is seen that Westpac group have set a target in order to improve the overall environmental performance. Therefore the framework related to the environmental sustainability is related to the process of-

Task 1: Analysis of Sustainability Reporting in an Australian Listed Company

Sustainability policy, 1992 of Westpac bank (Northey et al.,2013.) .

• The risk management framework of the company is highly related to the overall sustainability framework of the company.
• The responsibility is related to the code of conduct valuation.
• Lastly the overall public reporting technique is related to the sustainability standard of the company.

Part b

The environmental sustainability report of Westpac Company is an important aspect to consider. Generally the environmental sustainability is related to the following aspects namely-

• Materials
• Labour
• Water
• Energy
• Biodiversity
• Products and services
• Compliance etc.

It is seen from the overall financial report of the company that the company has implemented many techniques related to the environmental sustainability (H?bek 2014). Though the company did not addressed all the factors related to the environmental sustainability, however their contribution had been towards some selected areas like water, energy, materials and labour etc. further it is seen from the report that the carbon emission had achieved a reduction of 14 percent in the financial year. The overall water consumption has been achieving a height of 40 percent in the current financial year. In case of bio diversity the bank had sourced $17 million from its suppliers overall as well as have also introduced a task force.

The general underlying reasons related to this aspect are as follows-

• The water and energy are two of the most important source for not only mankind, but for all the business houses. Therefore delivering of fresh water is one of the major concern which Westpac bank has focused on. Therefore they have invested a good amount of money in the financial year. It is addressed in the annual reports of the company.
• On the verge of globalisation keeping the biodiversity safe is another aspect which the bank had looked to focus on. Therefore the bank have invested a good amount of money also in order to maintain a balance between the natures in this financial year. Furthermore their initiatives proves that the bank have also addressed different action policies related to the environment as a whole (Kaspereit and Lopatta 2016).
• On the other hand the company annual report also describes the impact it had made on reducing the greenhouse gas effect on the environment. Therefore the use of new and improved technologies related to the daily operation has taken the company to a new height. Therefore it can be said that the company has also invested a good amount of money in this case for the sake of betterment of the environment. This is why main emphasis has been provided in these areas (Lozano 2013).

The profit percentage of the assets for Westpac bank is varied by industry rules and regulations. Thus in this way the company offers more effective changes related to the return on assets ratio. Thus the return on assets ratio is generally implemented by the company in order to make sure that the changes in assets valuations are related to the previous year periods. It is seen that the falling in the overall return on assets will allow the investors and analysts to bear a good amount of percentage on overall return generated on the assets. Thus the overall return on assets valuation is related to accounting the outstanding liabilities and a chance to claim higher amount of profitability in the financial year (del Mar Alonso?Almeida et al.,2014.).

On the other hand from the annual report of Westpac bank, it is seen that the company had made a good earning in both the financial years. The net income of the company is calculated at $8234 and $8387 respectively. Again the total assets value for the company is recorded at $851875 and $879592 respectively (Fonseca et al.,2014.). Therefore it is seen that during both the financial year the company had been able to acquire good amount of assets and clear the debts. Therefore the return on assets ratio are calculated by dividing the net assets value by net income value generated in the financial year. It is seen from the calculation that the ratio value for year 2018 and 2017 is 0.97% and 0.95% respectively. The return on assets does not have any set standard norms. However if the rate is below 1 it can be said that the overall return percentage is satisfying. Therefore the calculated return on asset value had suggested that the bank had gained a good amount of return in the financial years (Boiral 2013).

Task 2: Evaluation of EMA Reporting

From the GRI sustainability report of the Westpac bank and the overall environmental sustainability report describes an effective summary related to this aspect. It further also addresses certain recommendation techniques about the process. From task 1 relating to the GRI g4 sustainability report it is seen that the reporting standard discusses about the following aspects namely-

The materiality assessment technique is highly addressed by the company in this case and the overall sustainability reporting is associated to this process (Hahn and Kühnen 2013).

The company is also focused on providing the people best financial services. Helping them at the important time and to prosper the economy of the country. Thus these guidelines are very helpful for the company shareholders to identify their involvement and other reporting techniques.

The task 2 delivers the process related to the overall environmental sustainability reporting process. It is seen that the company had made a reduction of 4.4 percent in greenhouse gas reduction and a 40 percent of overall reduction. Hence it is a big achievement. Furthermore the bank had also delivered their contribution towards water, bio diversity and energy transformation system. Thus the bank had made a good contribution to society. Therefore the bank may also contribute more if they investment on the process like labour issues, products and services and other compliance.

References

Boiral, O., 2013. Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(7), pp.1036-1071.

Buhr, N., Gray, R. and Milne, M.J., 2014. Histories, rationales, voluntary standards and future prospects for sustainability reporting: CSR, GRI, IIRC and beyond. In Sustainability accounting and accountability (pp. 69-89). Routledge.

del Mar Alonso?Almeida, M., Llach, J. and Marimon, F., 2014. A closer look at the ‘Global Reporting Initiative’sustainability reporting as a tool to implement environmental and social policies: A worldwide sector analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 21(6), pp.318-335.

Fernandez-Feijoo, B., Romero, S. and Ruiz, S., 2014. Effect of stakeholders’ pressure on transparency of sustainability reports within the GRI framework. Journal of business ethics, 122(1), pp.53-63.

Fonseca, A., McAllister, M.L. and Fitzpatrick, P., 2014. Sustainability reporting among mining corporations: a constructive critique of the GRI approach. Journal of cleaner production, 84, pp.70-83.4

Fonseca, A., McAllister, M.L. and Fitzpatrick, P., 2014. Sustainability reporting among mining corporations: a constructive critique of the GRI approach. Journal of cleaner production, 84, pp.70-83.

H?bek, P., 2014. Evaluation of sustainability reporting practices in Poland. Quality & Quantity, 48(3), pp.1739-1752.

Hahn, R. and Kühnen, M., 2013. Determinants of sustainability reporting: a review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research. Journal of cleaner production, 59, pp.5-21.

Kaspereit, T. and Lopatta, K., 2016. The value relevance of SAM’s corporate sustainability ranking and GRI sustainability reporting in the E uropean stock markets. Business Ethics: A European Review, 25(1), pp.1-24.

Lozano, R., 2013. Sustainability inter-linkages in reporting vindicated: a study of European companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 51, pp.57-65.

Northey, S., Haque, N. and Mudd, G., 2013. Using sustainability reporting to assess the environmental footprint of copper mining. Journal of Cleaner Production, 40, pp.118-128.

Siew, R.Y., 2015. A review of corporate sustainability reporting tools (SRTs). Journal of environmental management, 164, pp.180-195.