Financial Accounts of Santos Limited-Free-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Review the Companys annual reports for 2016 and 2013. Compare the Companys CSR Reporting. 2.Visit the Companys Website and review its CSR reporting on the Website, i.e. not the Annual eport. Answers: 1.The company selected for this task is Santos Limited which is a listed mining company. In 2013, the annual report of the company did not contain much in terms of CSR and the same was observed in 2016. The only relevant information about CSR in the 2013 annual report was in the form of a mention of a Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee which is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the sustainability policies. Also, this committee is expected to deal with reporting in sustainability aspect. However, no other details about the performance of the company in this aspect or the steps taken by the company are highlighted in the annual report (Santos, 2013). In 2016, even there is no mention of the Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee as the section on corporate governance is not there (Santos, 2016). 2.The company does not report any information about CSR in the annual report which may be attributed to the fact that the company tends to release an annual sustainability report which covers the aspects related to CSR and is assessable from the website. The sustainability report in 2013 tends to list down the various key aspects of sustainability from the perspective of the company. Further, the various aspects such as engaging with the stakeholders, reducing resource usage, reducing emissions , protecting water resources, building sustainable workforce while ensuring health and safety have been outlined coupled with the various measures undertaken in these regards. Also, the performance of the company in quantitative terms for various aspects outlined above has also been highlighted in the report. The tone of the report is quite assuring as it highlights that the company is sensitive to the concerns of the stakeholders and thereby aims at sustainable development (Santos, 2013). From 2013 to 2016, the core focus of the company in terms of basic philosophy driving CSR remains the same. The 2016 sustainability report is not available, however, the sustainability performance data is available which is significantly more extensive as compared to 2013 which clearly reflects the increasing emphasis on this aspect. This is on expected lines considering mining companies are usually accused of having adverse impact on communities and environment and thus extensively engage in CSR activities to manage their public image. Besides, the array of indicators used in 2016 is also more extensive in 2013 which clearly reflects to improvement in the CSR reporting which allows for greater quantification. This is significant from the perspective of future CSR reporting as mere detailing of initiatives can amount to green-washing without highlighting the performance aspect (Santos, 2017). It is apparent that the company has brought about a separate dedicated section of sustainability rather than combining the same in the annual report. Thus, while the annual report of the company tends to focus on the performance in financial and operational terms, the section on sustainability accessed from the website tends to highlight the performance of the company in terms of CSR along with various initiatives and the quantitative performance measures. References Santos (2013), Annual Report 2013, Santos Website, [Online] Available at https://www.santos.com/media/2505/annual_report_2013.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2017] Santos (2014), Sustainability Report 2013, Santos Website, [Online] Available at https://www.santos.com/media/1278/2013_sustainability_report.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2017] Santos (2016), Annual Report 2016, Santos Website, [Online] Available at https://www.santos.com/media/3525/san675_annualreport2016_fa3_low-res_.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2017] Santos (2017), Sustainability Performance Data 2016, Santos Website, [Online] Available at https://www.santos.com/media/3604/santos-sustainability-performance-data-2016.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2017]