IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards and corporate financial policies

About the Project

The increasing demand for transparency, comparability, reliability and decision usefulness of sustainability information has led to the development of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2. IFRS S1 focuses on general requirements for sustainability-related financial information and IFRS S2 deals with climate-related disclosures. Specifically, IFRS S1 establishes a general framework for disclosing material sustainability-related risks and opportunities affecting firms’ financial performance and future cash flows, while IFRS S2 provides detailed guidance on climate-related governance, strategy, risk management, and performance metrics.

These global sustainability standards integrate sustainability risk and opportunities with financial reporting and seek to improve the decision usefulness and global comparability of sustainability information. Despite their significance, empirical evidence on the financial and non-financial reporting consequences of these emerging global sustainability standards remained limited in the existing literature. This project will examine the adoption and implications of IFRS sustainability reporting standards, with particular attention to their effects on corporate sustainability performance, financial policies and the role of corporate governance mechanisms.

The project aims (but is not limited to) the following research questions:

1. Investigate the IFRS sustainability reporting standards adoption in different settings.
2. Assess whether IFRS sustainability reporting standards adoption improve corporate sustainability performance.
3. Examine how IFRS sustainability reporting standards adoption influence financial policies.
4. Analyse the role of corporate governance mechanisms in IFRS sustainability reporting standards and financial policies.

Methodology

This project is open to a range of methodological approaches. We particularly welcome applicants with strong knowledge in quantitative methods. However, candidates with expertise in qualitative or mixed-method approaches, such as interviews, case studies, are also encouraged to apply.

Supervisors

ruth.owusu-mensah@ntu.ac.uk