A new report unveiled by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada today points to inconsistencies in the way Canadian companies are reporting their sustainability practices and initiatives.

The report, Measuring Up: A Study on Corporate Sustainability Reporting in Canada, includes insights from a new CGA-Canada survey of publicly traded companies and shows that among organizations with a comprehensive sustainability reporting program, nearly one-third (31.4%) cite lack of credibility of sustainability reports as the biggest issue.

“There is a widely recognized global movement towards sustainability reporting,” says Rock Lefebvre, CGA-Canada’s vp, research and standards. “But Canadian companies are relatively new to the game. We’re nowhere close to the point where Canadians can expect mandatory reporting guidelines.” Lefebvre explains that implementation of globally-accepted guidelines such as those provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), together with third-party assurance will go far in addressing credibility concerns. But he adds that Canada isn’t ready for mandatory reporting standards at this time.

Canada lags behind the U.K. and U.S. in sustainability reporting development, although CGA-Canada’s analysis shows that corporate sustainability reporting is growing in Canada.

CGA-Canada analyzed survey results of over 200 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange. Companies were asked about their corporate sustainability reporting — communication that demonstrates their responsiveness to societal issues and covers broad economic, environmental, and social performance.

Results revealed that almost half (49.8%) of the companies surveyed provide some coverage of their social or environmental performance and 18.4% of companies produce a stand-alone report on these topics. Government and regulatory requirements (49.5%), stakeholder pressures (21.4%), and corporate reputation considerations (12%) were cited by respondents as the most important drivers of corporate sustainability reporting.

“CGA-Canada believes that as sustainability issues and standardized reporting become increasingly important, they will become contributors to a company’s intangible assets and future earnings potential if conducted with professional rigor,” says Lefebvre.

CGA-Canada outlined a number of recommendations in its report. The report says reporting must be efficient, flexible and voluntary.

As well, globally-accepted guidelines, such as those provided by the GRI, are required, as are steps to improve the credibility of the reports and reward reporting companies.

The full report is available for download from the CGA-Canada Web site.