Assignment 1
Disclosing information for any company can be difficult at times because if you say too much you can hurt your company and their competitive advantage and if you say too little you can hurt the company also. There has got to be a fine line drawn between too little and too much. For a company to be traded on the stock exchange or to get investor funding they need to disclose certain aspects of their management practices and financial performance. Using the general guidelines set forth by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and by following the accounting and legal standards established there are pretty clear disclosure rules for all businesses to adhere to. Some of the general principles of disclosure are (Cromwell):
• Purpose of disclosure is to make current and future investors aware of the financial status of the company.
• If the current situation suggests a possible trend or future event, but it is unlikely to occur, they do not have to disclose.
• If the current situation suggests a possible trend or future event and it is likely it will occur or they cannot determine if it is likely, the business must disclose this possibility and underlying facts.
• The one exception to disclosure is if the event is likely to occur, but it is unlikely to have a material impact on the company's financial status then the company does not have to disclose if they prefer not to.
There are several advantages and disadvantages of disclosing your non-financial data. The following are some of those (Lohrey):
Advantages:
• The company's public image can be enhanced.
• Keeps the public informed of what the company is doing.
• Customer confidence will be improved because they will know where they stand financially and how they are looking with regard to future projects.
• Companies that believe in full disclosure may find that the cost of raising capital to expand their business is cheaper.
Disadvantages:
• Full disclosure for a business means that they now need to comply with GAAP.
• Cost of gathering, processing, and auditing their information can be very expensive.
• If the company or their employees do something that is not favorable to their public image it could end up costing them in the long run.
• Too much disclosure can hurt a company's competitive advantage.
• The element of surprise is gone.
Some of the most important non-financial data that a company may disclose can be done with sustainability and integrated reporting. Sustainability reporting is the process of gathering and disclosing non-financial data about the company. Sustainability includes such things as (Non-Financial Reporting):
• Environmental
• Social
• Employee and ethics matters
• Defining measurements
• Indicators and sustainability goals based on the company's strategy
Integrated reporting is the process of building an integrated report that combines financial data and sustainability reports that will explain to someone the company's ability to create and sustain value.
References:
Cromwell, John. (n.d.).How to Weigh the Advantages & Disadvantages of Disclosure.
Lohrey, Jackie. (n.d.).How to Weigh the Advantages & Disadvantages of Disclosure.
Non-Financial Reporting.(n.d.).
Assignment 2
Bradford, Earp, Showalter, & Williams (2017) defines sustainability as "meeting the needs of a company's direct and indirect stakeholders without compromising its ability to meet the needs of future stakeholders". Sustainability or corporate responsibility reporting not only focus on environmental concerns but it also includes areas that balance social, environment, and economic issues(Bradford et al,2017). This process of sustainability commonly expressed as the Three P's, referencing issues related to the planet, people, and profit(Bradford et al, 2017). Campbell Soup Company is one corporations that has been identified as one of the world's 100 most sustainable companies, according to Forbes .com (2014). Campbell Soup Company focuses on impacting five key areas; customers, their employees, the planet, the community, and their stakeholders (businesswire.com, 2017). Businesswire.com (2017) explained that over the last five years, Campbell Soup Company" reduced its energy usage by more than 420,000 mmBtus, decreased its water usage by nearly 780,000 cubic meters, and recycled more than 32,,000 metric tonnes of materials in its processing sites". Campbell Soup Company reports nonfictional information so that they can remain transparent to their customers and stakeholders. Transparency is how Campbell Soup Company maintain their trust along with using real food and sustainability (businesswire.com,2017). Campbell Soup Company uses scorecards related to product (negative ingredients, positive ingredients, and healthy products), environment (water use, energy use, GHG emission, global recycling), and social responsibility,( diversity, safety, giving and benefits )which all included in the corporate responsibility report.