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Aware of their corporate social responsibility, an ever-increasing number of companies develop specific strategies to add a real value to society. However, stakeholders still show a need for accountability. Here is why non financial reporting matters. Our work provides an overview of BEL20 companies’ non financial reporting practises, identifies areas of improvement of that kind of disclosure and predicts future trends. Based on a deep analysis of the different aspects of non financial reporting, we have developed a literature review that enabled us to analyse BEL20 companies disclosures. This deep analysis and the top-quality interviews of non financial reporting experts lead us to express a sound opinion over the current state of play of non financial reporting practises. It also enables us to spot the potential challenges that non financial experts will have to overcome in the near future. We notice that the majority of BEL20 companies reports are well conceived. They publish relevant and user-friendly reports, they develop specific strategy that includes all their stakeholders, they extensively work on a consistent materiality approach and they provide clear and understandable information. The combination of this work and the reporting system alignment with the CSR strategy undoubtedly improves the relevance and understandability of their disclosures. We however lament their non financial reports’ comparability and reliability. The reporting practises standardization will certainly improve comparability. This standardization which will need to take into account the industry specificities, will definitely be based on the widely recognized GRI guidelines. It also appears that the cooperation of standard-setters will lead to a better integration of reporting practises. About integrated reporting, even if it’s currently spreading, this practise is still too costly and needs further development. We also highlight the necessity to develop more efficient tools to certify the non financial information's reliability. Indeed, the current level and scope of assurance given in the audit of non financial reports don’t provide enough satisfaction. Finally, six BEL20 companies show poor results in terms of non financial reporting quality. This situation may be improved by a stricter legal framework. However, although the amount of laws is increasing, the debate over more restrictive laws is still open. In practise, non financial experts find the current situation satisfactory. It’s why we think that a « report or explain » approach will empower the worse companies to improve their disclosure while leaving some flexibility to other companies. Finally, we hope that our work will lead managers to reconsider their non financial reporting approach and we will be pleased to follow the theoretical developments which might extend and deepen our work's findings.

Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit