The Influence of Sustainability Reporting on Russian Firms Performance.

Sustainability reporting is an innovative way of information disclosure. It represents economic, ecological, and social activities of the firm. While firms from developed countries have already evaluated the usefulness of these reports, the vast majority of Russian companies ignores this innovation. My BSc thesis examines the influence of sustainability reporting on financial performance of Russian firms from MICEX index for the period of 2011-2015. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the factors that influence publishing sustainability reporting and to test whether the degree of information disclosure has a positive significant influence on financial indicators. The results show that sustainability reporting is dependent on the firm’s size and the firm’s industry, while the degree of disclosure positively affects free cash flow. Reporting initiative does not depend on leverage, while the degree of disclosure does not affect market capitalization and growth opportunities. This study may contribute to the growing understanding of the sustainability reporting value for the firms from emerging markets.