THE EVOLUTION OF ESG REPORTING : A CASE STUDY OF SWEDEN’S LEADING BANKS

Sammanfattning: Background: The demand for ESG reporting has increased significantly in recent years. Simultaneously, in 2016, ESG reporting was implemented in the annual accounts act as a mandatory part. Consequently, ESG reporting has increased and gained focus from larger organizations. Stakeholder and shareholder theory are two main theoretical concepts that can explain and help portray the reporting of ESG. Recent developments have raised questions regarding how the information should be reported and targeted to whom. Purpose: This thesis aims to investigate how the top four banks in Sweden are portraying their ESG reporting. The study will analyze if the portrayal of ESG is biased toward any specific stakeholders. Method: The method used in this thesis combines quantitative and qualitative methods, as the authors found it most suitable to achieve the most thorough results. Interviews represents the qualitative method, and the coding of annual reports represents the quantitative method. Additionally, the thesis is built upon an abductive approach that enables the authors to alter between theory and empery, allowing the understanding to emerge along with the thesis. Ultimately, the mixed method and abductive approach produced the best conditions to fulfill the purpose. Findings: Even though theory suggests that the leading banks in Sweden should be able to achieve maximal satisfaction among all stakeholders simultaneously, it seems unrealistic to do so in reality. However, reaching maximal satisfaction is still the main goal for the banks, as stakeholder theory also suggests. The second finding is the presence of stakeholder pressure when portraying ESG reporting among the leading banks in Sweden. The report shows that the banks will act in stakeholders' interests when exposed to pressure from internal and external stakeholders. A more general finding is the dominance of stakeholder theory in ESG reporting amongst the leading banks in Sweden. Over the last years, the reporting towards stakeholders has increased significantly, while shareholder-targeted reporting has remained stable. However, it is still worth mentioning that the assumption of shareholder theory still somewhat holds.