Title: A systematic comparison of sustainability reporting standards

Authors: Vicky Therrien; Vincent Gagné

Addresses: Department of Accounting, Université de Moncton, Edmundston, Moncton, Canada ' Department of Accounting, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada

Abstract: This paper aims to conduct a systematic comparison of the Global Reporting Initiative standard, the Integrated Reporting framework and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards. The authors used Rasche's (2009) model to compare these sustainability reporting standards across six issues: specificity of norms, legitimacy, implementability, accountability, geographic scope and industry focus. Our systematic analytical comparison emphasises differences in legitimacy, accountability processes and geographic scope, while highlighting convergences in specificity, implementability and industry focus. We argue that stakeholder focus, which is at the heart of the process analysis in Rasche's (2009) model, largely explains the observed differences. Our results provide valuable insights for standard-setting organisations and decision makers seeking to understand the most popular sustainability accounting frameworks world-wide.

Keywords: sustainability reporting; sustainability accounting; reporting standards; social responsibility disclosure framework.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCM.2025.150314

International Journal of Comparative Management, 2025 Vol.4 No.3, pp.259 - 275

Received: 26 Apr 2023
Accepted: 26 Sep 2023
Published online: 09 Dec 2025 *

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