Social, Environmental and Financial Information

Abstract

This chapter tries to delineate the institutional external disclosure for every kind of concerns, including information beyond the strict financial domain. It deals with social disclosure (variables of human and social nature), and with environmental disclosure (variables of physical-natural nature). The theme of integrated disclosure is dealt with as well. A basic choice is the privileged reference to the entity and not to the firm or corporate. Thus, it is chosen a ‘generalistic’ approach, according whom the common characters for every kind of entity will be exposed at the beginning, afterwards the variance between public and private ‘world’, and between no profit and for profit organisations. The core idea of the chapter is that all sustainability performances are to be summarised, finally, in a ‘single’ bottom line, expressed in conventional monetary terms, and not only in the customary three bottom lines without such a comprehensive synthesis.