Measuring the Extent of Iraqi Companies Commitment for
Reporting Sustainability according to S&P/ISX/ ESG and GRI Standards

A Thesis Submitted to
 The Council of the College of Administration and
 Economics – University of  Kerbala, as  Partial Fulfillment of  Requirements for the Degree of Master in Accounting

By
Eman Jawad Ahmed Al khafajy
Supervised by
Prof. Dr. Talal Mohammed Ali Al jajawy

Abstract

       Sustainability deals with companies as a social unit that affects and is affected by society, so this society needs to know and transparently the social and environmental impacts as well as the economic impacts of corporate activities, So The aim of the research is to use GRI standards to analyze the content of the annual financial reports of a sample of listed companies in the Iraqi Stock Exchange to determine their commitment to reporting on their economic, environmental, social and governance activities to achieve their responsibility towards society in accordance with the sustainable development perspective. And the relationship of S & P reporting transparency to Iraqi listed companies on the Iraq Stock Exchange at the level of reporting on sustainability according to the GRI and ESG / ISX.

‏The results of the study showed that the level of the Iraqi companies’ commitment to reporting on sustainability according to the GRI and ESG / ISX standards was weak and 19.67% for not reporting to most companies on the most indicators. In the S & P Transparency Index, the degree of transparency in the reporting was measured. The result was 39.5% Resulting in weak contribution of Iraqi companies to the research sample in achieving sustainable development during the period (2015-2014).

‏The correlation between the level of sustainability reporting according to ESG / ISX and S & P reporting transparency was determined using simple linear regression and the result was that there was no statistically significant impact of the sustainability reporting level and the ESG / ISX indicators on S & P reporting transparency and vice versa Right.