ACC/TAX 570: ESG Regulation and Sustainability Reporting

Contents
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are increasingly important for the long-run performance of companies and their sustainability management. Therefore, the reporting on these factors has gained attention from many private and public initiatives worldwide and recent regulations (such as the CSRD in the European Union) require disclosures of companies’ ESG performance. Managers respond to the pressure by regulators and stakeholders by increasingly incorporating the measurement and monitoring of ESG targets in their internal performance evaluation. This course is introducing the theoretical foundations, the regulatory framework as well as trends in current management practice of ESG reporting. Particular emphasis is laid on carbon disclosures and tax trans­parency.

Learning outcomes
Students have developed an economic intuition for the theoretical foundations of targeted disclosure regulation. Specifically, they understand how public reporting requirements can support regulatory objectives with regard to ESG factors and they know institutional details of how ESG regulation in the corporate sector contributes to these objectives. They can relate their knowledge to applied cases on topics such as decarbonization and fair taxation.

Necessary prerequisites
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Recommended prerequisites
Bachelor-level knowledge of accounting and taxation

Examiner

Prof. Dr. Jannis Bischof Prof. Dr. Holger Daske Prof. Dr. Philip Doerrenberg Prof. Stefan Reichelstein, Ph.D.