Abstract

Sustainability reporting to accompany traditional financial reports has momentum, but lack of consistency in preparing sustainability reports inhibits their usefulness. This paper presents a development guide for a consistent and auditable sustainability reporting model based on modified value-added reporting. Value added taken from traditional accounting reports is allocated to five dimensions of sustainability: financial, social, environmental, technological, and a residual value retained in the company. Sustainability indicators based on ratios of allocated amounts to the five dimensions are illustrated for a fictitious company. The underlying idea is that if there is an imbalance among the proportions of value added distributed among the dimensions of sustainability, the company’s long-term survival could be at stake.