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- Creators: Department of Finance
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
As scrutiny of corporate behavior grows, the demand for ESG disclosures rises across the world. In the U.S., public firms voluntarily provided data relevant to their corporate responsibility through highly individualized and non-comparable ESG reports. Even with the existence of the IFRS’s Integrated Report framework, which aims to provide context to an organization's value creation, the adoption of the exemplar guidelines remains minimal. The intended goal of this research project is to explore whether the data that is traditionally found in the is publicly available through other means of disclosure. Specifically, the research focuses on Waste Management’s public disclosures and explores the data available against the framework. Each subsection of the guidelines is used to analyze the content available to investors and scorable based on the level of disclosure. The objective of the research is to understand how well WM disclosed relevant material against the international ESG standard and the challenges investors face when creating the connections found in the . Using the single case study, my research found that WM disclosed isolated information about values, risks, strategies, and opportunities, but ultimately failed to create connections to the process of value creation. As an investor, the information made available by WM was not comprehensive enough to infer value connections, nor was there specific data on governance and performance reporting. As pressure builds from shareholders and stakeholders, the SEC and organizations must define guidelines and adapt reportings.
It is important to know why financial crises happen every ten years since the United States is approaching what could be the next ten-year cycle. However, 2019 could be the year the financial markets escape past trends, but that will not happen without understanding why past crises have taken place. If humans stop creating the occurrences for a crisis, there will be nothing for human nature to escalate and make worse. The more independence and knowledge investors and financial institutions have, the easier it will be to stop the occurrences that create a crisis every ten years. This thesis explores why human actions are really to blame for the financial crises the United States’ markets have experienced, and why human nature is to blame for escalating the crisis experienced. Moving forward, if humans can stop creating the occurrences for a financial crisis, the markets can be changed for the better.
Anyone can be a leader, and this thesis project will be your guide to becoming a better leader in any aspect of your life! This project listens to the words of wisdom from leaders and compares those against the advice from scholars. From this discussion, a collection of traits emerge which can be built upon to become a better leader.