ACC20050 Sustainability Reporting and Analysis

Academic Year 2024/2025

Sustainability disclosures represent a rapidly evolving aspect of corporate reporting, playing a pivotal role in both internal decision-making processes and external evaluations from capital markets, regulators, and the broader public. This module aims to elucidate the significance of sustainability reporting both from a societal as well as business perspective, highlighting their intrinsic interconnection. Concepts such as materiality will be introduced, and developments around double materiality explored.

Sustainability is a broad term with different understandings and definitions. Students will learn about the basics of climate science and the transition the economy will undergo. Climate risks in business will be analysed. While the focus lies on environmental sustainability and key green reporting metrics like greenhouse gas emissions, broader sustainability topics such as gender pay gap reporting and corporate governance will also be touched upon. Students will get an introduction to the concept of ESG and its influence on capital markets.

Sustainability relates to data from all business processes and departments in the organization. Non-financial data often comes in different units and formats than financial data. In this module, students will learn how this information can be organized, analysed and presented to provide information for decision makers within and outside of the organization. Students are expected to develop a basic understanding of the current regulatory environment and the difference between voluntary and mandatory disclosure. Students will explore the current state of corporate sustainability reporting.
Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure is increasingly popular, with an increasing number of companies providing standalone sustainability reports or integrating sustainability information into their annual reports. This module will equip students with skills to handle related data and analyse reports critically, emphasizing the importance of assessing data quality and credibility of sustainability claims to mitigate risks associated with greenwashing. Lastly, this module will provide an overview of the upcoming regulatory requirements globally and in the EU, and key stakeholders involved in the standard setting processes.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Part A – Sustainability as a concept
After completing this part of the module, a student should be able to:
Demonstrate basic understanding of climate science and key metrics and know and where to find latest related data and scenarios
Understand climate risks in business
Reflect on “ESG” and its implications

Part B – Sustainability indicators and reporting practices
After completing this part of the module, a student should be able to:
Understand the differences in financial and non-financial data
Outline the current state of play in sustainability reporting
Analyse corporate carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emission reporting
Analyse corporate sustainability reports from different perspectives
Understand the concept of materiality in the context of sustainability disclosure
Critically assess corporate communications from the perspective of greenwashing
Discuss the role of assurance

Part C – Regulatory developments and standards
After completing this section, a student should be able to:
Understand the difference in and implications of voluntary versus mandatory reporting
Identify key stakeholders in the regulatory and standard setting process
Provide an overview of Green Taxonomies
Identify upcoming European regulation such as CSRD

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Lectures

24
Total

124
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The module is designed on the assumption that students will attend all the in-person sessions. Sessions will provide a focal point for discussing and navigating the module’s material and achieving the learning outcomes in full. Students are expected to participate in discussions, problem solving and group work at the in-person sessions. The module will involve a group project.

Students should check BrightSpace and their UCD email account for module announcements on a very regular basis.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

Students are expected to have prior knowledge of topics covered in ACC10040 Financial Accounting 1, ACC10060 Introduction to Accounting or equivalent.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Group Work Assignment: Group Project with delivery during the term n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

30
Exam (In-person): End of Trimester Exam n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

70

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring Yes - 2 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.