This paper describes how an international mineral resources company has responded to the challenge of triple bottom line reporting. Over a period of 5 years the organisation evolved from basic internal health, safety and environment reporting to a public report presenting information on the three pillars of the Triple Bottom Line. Both internal and external stakeholders have driven this process. Internally, strong individuals within the HSE department have convinced executive management of the benefits and external drivers such as local community expectations and broader global developments have reinforced the message.
The development of the reporting process over several years and in particular the evolution of performance indicators in the direction of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has had the effect of increasing employees’s awareness of how the business gauges success in other ways than just financial. The process has been a continually changing set of goal posts for the operating units to the frustration of many. What have been the main influences in the evolution of the reports?
Through analysing the trends in this particular company’s reports along with feedback from receivers of the reports, the paper will answer some of the questions related to the influences on public corporate reporting.
