Sweden’s shift towards mandatory sustainability reporting : An investigation of non-financial disclosure by Swedish firms in light of the Directive 2014/95/EU

Sammanfattning: In 2014, the European Union enforced the new directive 2014/95/EU, shifting voluntary disclosure of non-financial information into mandatory. On December 31, 2016, the Swedish government implemented the directive into the Swedish Annual Account Act (ÅRL) with a more extensive regulation than stipulated by the EU's minimum requirements. In this thesis, an investigation of the EU directive's effects on Swedish firms' disclosure of non-financial information has been conducted through content analysis. 27 firms and a total of 308 reports during the time period 2014 to 2021 have been analyzed. Institutional theory, legitimacy theory, and stakeholder theory have guided the analysis of the findings. The results demonstrate that the level of non-financial disclosure has experienced a positive change due to the implementation of the directive. However, it is conducted that other pressures and influences in firm's environment, than solely the EU directives effects, can constitute possible explanations for the increase in firms´ disclosure of non-financial information during the period.