The provision of information to outsiders has had a slow but steady increase in recent decades. At the beginning of the 1900s, a right to information for third parties outside the company and shareholders was not recognised. In the decades that followed, a right to information for third parties was identified in all countries, albeit at different times, and financial reporting was structured in such a way as to ensure complete and comprehensive information for third parties outside the company. Particularly in the last twenty years, the issue of disclosure outside the company also includes a communication concerning sustainability. What is noticeable, however, is that while financial reporting has increased but does not appear to be oversized concerning the needs of those outside the company, sustainability reporting has increased. A constant that leads to the drafting of oversized documents compared to the potential that companies can express and, probably, also compared to the information needs of third parties. Currently, a new European regulation has been passed, which will not change the directive itself comma and standards have been issued by EFRAG, which are under discussion but will come into force in the concise term. The information concerning the sustainability report comma no longer called non-financial information is expected to be increased, which appears to be decidedly oversized from every point of view. Companies will have to bear considerable costs to draw up such a document. Third parties will be overwhelmed by oversized information compared to the community's real needs concerning the sustainability implemented by the various companies. Overinforming is the main rule for not informing, and this seems to be the path that bodies intended to issue sustainability documents want to take. Such bodies, of course, take this path in good faith in the belief that by informing a lot of third parties will be more aware of the activities of companies. But in the face of documents of hundreds of pages, the writer is convinced that legitimate doubt may arise on this principle.

IS IT ALWAYS DESIRABLE AND USEFUL FOR THIRD PARTIES TO DISPROPORTIONATELY INCREASE DISCLOSURE OUTSIDE THE COMPANY?

maria silvia avi
2022-01-01

Abstract

The provision of information to outsiders has had a slow but steady increase in recent decades. At the beginning of the 1900s, a right to information for third parties outside the company and shareholders was not recognised. In the decades that followed, a right to information for third parties was identified in all countries, albeit at different times, and financial reporting was structured in such a way as to ensure complete and comprehensive information for third parties outside the company. Particularly in the last twenty years, the issue of disclosure outside the company also includes a communication concerning sustainability. What is noticeable, however, is that while financial reporting has increased but does not appear to be oversized concerning the needs of those outside the company, sustainability reporting has increased. A constant that leads to the drafting of oversized documents compared to the potential that companies can express and, probably, also compared to the information needs of third parties. Currently, a new European regulation has been passed, which will not change the directive itself comma and standards have been issued by EFRAG, which are under discussion but will come into force in the concise term. The information concerning the sustainability report comma no longer called non-financial information is expected to be increased, which appears to be decidedly oversized from every point of view. Companies will have to bear considerable costs to draw up such a document. Third parties will be overwhelmed by oversized information compared to the community's real needs concerning the sustainability implemented by the various companies. Overinforming is the main rule for not informing, and this seems to be the path that bodies intended to issue sustainability documents want to take. Such bodies, of course, take this path in good faith in the belief that by informing a lot of third parties will be more aware of the activities of companies. But in the face of documents of hundreds of pages, the writer is convinced that legitimate doubt may arise on this principle.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/5001111
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