 Regulating Sustainability Reporting in Europe: De Jure Harmonisation or De Facto Standardisation?Simone Pizzi, Andrea Venturelli and Fabio Caputo Accounting in Europe, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, 51-75 Abstract: The paper aims to contribute to the debate about sustainability reporting through an evidence-based analysis of the contribution of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to the standardisation of the non-financial disclosures prepared by the Italian public interest entities (PIEs). For the purpose of this study, we considered a sample of Italian PIEs affected by the effects of the Directive 2014/95/EU during the period 2017-2020. Following previous studies about financial accounting harmonisation, the analysis was built using the Herfindahl index (H-Index) and Comparability index (C-Index). The analysis reveals that the GRI standards contributed to achieving a higher degree of harmonisation. Furthermore, the analysis underlines an isomorphic approach related to the disclosure of non-financial information on a mandatory basis. Despite common legal requirements, we found virtuous companies voluntarily adopted a more sophisticated reporting approach to signal their orientation to sustainable and ethical paradigms. Date: 2025 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:acceur:v:22:y:2025:i:1:p:51-75 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/17449480.2024.2330976 Access Statistics for this article Accounting in Europe is currently edited by Lisa Evans More articles in Accounting in Europe from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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