Land Rover Sustainability Accounting and Accountability Analysis Essay

Land Rover Sustainability Accounting and Accountability Analysis - Essay Example Sustainable development aims to fulfill the present needs without harming the possibility of not fulfilling the future ones. In today’s era, where companies give sole importance to economic growth the concept of sustainable growth becomes all the more important. As globalization continues to spread there is a steep rise in the ways through which companies and individuals can increase their profits. But the newly created opportunities are not evenly spread over the social strata. So there is always a dynamic instability which is making the environment volatile to some extent. Increase in technical knowledge has attributed to financial development, but it also has the ability to reduce the risks which threatens to harm the social and environmental sustainability .So sustainable development’s key feature encapsulates its promotion of out of the box thinking and selection of innovative choices. There is a need for transparency regarding a company’s economic, social a nd environmental impact and gradually this aspect has become an integral part of its relations with its stakeholders. Stakeholders expect a company to communicate to them the true picture of the company’s sustainability. This naturally led to the requirement of a globally recognized framework of rules, concepts and regulations. As a result the Global Reporting Initiative created the Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting. With the formation of the guidelines a transparency was achieved in the reports involving the sustainability of the company. These reports generated a lot of interest amongst the motley crew of stakeholders (Global Reporting, 2011). Sustainability reports disclose results that have happened in the reporting period. These reports are mainly used for: 1. Assessment of the sustainability performance of the company in accordance with the laws, performance standards and norms. 2. The extent to which the company influences and gets influenced by its surroundings. 3. To perform an intra and intercompany comparison over a period. Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting The reporting framework developed by GRI can be used by any company irrespective of its location, sector and size. The reporting guidelines ensure that the reports produced by the companies are up to the mark. These guidelines include: 1. Reporting Principles 2. Guidance 3. Standard disclosures. All the three elements are given equal weight age and importance. Reporting principles explain the results a report should able to convey, the selection and methods of reporting, along with the indicators and topics which will be included in the report. Each principle consists of definitions and a number of tests which help the company to decide the principles which it intends to use. The reporting guidance explains the actions that a company can take during the decision making process, and also helps in selecting the topics that will be included

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the Essay - 6

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the liability of employers for references. How, if at all, doe - Essay Example Issuing of references for employees or former employees by employers is a practice that is of interest to both the employer and the employee (Middlemiss 2013, p141). The employers have an interest in understanding the extent of their liability. On the other hand, the employees have an interest in knowing whether they have the right to sue employers for economic damage arising from unjust references. In understanding the liability of employers for references, the paper will look into the relevant principles of the law by reviewing cases related to the subject in question (Lee 2011). Case studies Spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others The spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others led to the realization of the importance of pursuing acts of negligence through unjust and unfair references. Before this realization, employees who suffered from unjust references only used the tort laws to search for justice (House of Lords 1995). The option of the tort laws was not common due to the ev idential obstacles that the plaintiff faced. In the Spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others, the House of Lords came to a conclusion that, in situations where an employer decides to give a current or former employee a reference, it is the employer’s responsibility to take reasonable care in preparing or issuing the reference. It is also the employer’s responsibility to take care when verifying the information related to the reference. In addition, the House of Lords also concluded that, in situations where an employer issues a reference to a prospective or future employer, it is the employer’s responsibilities to provide care to that the employer in respect to the preparation of the reference. It further states that, in cases where a break of any of the duties occurs due to negligence in preparing the reference, the employer issuing the reference can be held responsible for damages to the employee, prospective employer or future employer (UKHL, 1994). The emp loyer issuing a reference has the responsibility to act in a fair manner towards the employee to protect the employee from suffering from economic losses due to negligence in issuing the reference. The employer also has a duty of care towards the employer receiving the reference because the recipient employer relies on the reference information in providing employment to the subject of the reference (McBride 2004, p.420). Therefore, the employer’s decision to employ the employee is largely influenced by the information provided on the reference. This point makes it reasonable to hold the employer issuing the reference responsible for any economic damage that the prospective employer suffers (Middlemiss 2004, p.67). In another example, it was concluded in the Legal Assurance Ltd v Kirk that, in a situation where an employer makes an informal statement regarding an employee that is not relied on by a third party, there is no liability due to negligence even if there is no any r eference issued. However, this claim was not accepted by the Court of Appeal because it was based on speculations on how the employer might respond when requested for a reference (Middlemiss 2004, p62). A different approach in understanding the liability of employers for reference is evident in Bartholomew v London Borough of Hackney. In this case, an employer issuing