An overview of the progress and challenges of sustainability reporting in Iran

Subject Areas : Corporate governance

Tooba Haghighat ¹ , Hanieh Hekmat ²

1 - PhD Candidate, Department of Accounting, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of of Accounting, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2024-08-07 Accepted : 2024-12-24 Published : 2025-01-27

Keywords: Sustainability Reporting, Sustainable Development, Sustainability Accounting, Progress and challenge of Sustainability Reporting,

Abstract :

Todays, climate change, lack of natural resources, pollution, social inequalities and human rights violations show that there are still challenges in society. To face these challenges and realize sustainable development, organizations have committed to social and environmental responsibility to report their performance comprehensively and transparently, taking into account environmental, social and economic aspects. Sustainability reporting encourages organizations to provide more and more accurate information to the public and organizations to take more responsibility for improving sustainability. The present study reviewed the progress and challenges of sustainability reporting in Iran. First, the summaries of the articles were reviewed, then irrelevant studies were removed, and finally, the final articles were selected for review-narrative review. The results of recent researches have shown that the disclosure of sustainability reporting has made great progress, in this way, studies have found that there is a positive relationship between management ability, social responsibility, intellectual capital, and the evaluation of the quality of sustainability disclosure and reporting and sustainability performance. The researches proposed in the field of dimensions, indicators and reporting framework of sustainability were able to consider a solution for transparency in affairs to meet the needs of all stakeholders. The relationship between balancing the expectations of the stakeholders and the company's capacities was also resolved. Sustainability reporting guidelines and standards also showed the impact of the publication of sustainability reporting in the insurance industry, which has been increasing, and insurance companies have considered a wide range of stakeholders as the audience of their sustainability reports.

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