Sustainability reporting in Australia\u27s resources industry: The undisclosed items

Most studies in sustainability reporting have focused on items disclosed in companies’ reports. This paper adopts a reverse perspective to investigate what information is generally undisclosed in companies’ disclosures. Using a new scoring index that differentiates hard verifiable disclosures from soft non-verifiable ones, this study evaluates reporting practices of companies in Australia’s resources industry. It is found that companies generally did not disclose on report credibility, sustainability spending and initiatives and human rights and product responsibility categories in the social aspect of sustainability. This industry-specific study suggests that substantial improvements are required in the current sustainability reporting practices and performance