The Australian National University
Research School of Accounting
BUSN3017 Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability & Reporting
Assignment 2: Business Report (Individual assignment, not a group assignment)
Semester 2, 2016
Marks: 15
Due Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2016

NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GRANTED ON THIS ASSIGNMENT
Submission: The assignment must be submitted in the slot under the counter of the RSA Student Enquiries Office
(Room 2037, Hanna Neumann Building) no later than 4.00 pm on the due date.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is threefold. First, it is designed to promote your understanding of the socio-economic
context of corporations and developments and practices in corporate social responsibility, accountability and
reporting. Second, it will promote your ability to research and analyse a complex corporate social responsibility issue,
incorporating ideas and concepts addressed in BUSN3017 this Semester, and to formulate well-reasoned and coherent
arguments and reach well considered conclusions in relation to the topic. Third, it will provide you with the opportunity
to consolidate your skills in writing a business report, including the use of the Harvard author-date referencing system
and, at the same time, ensure that you are fully aware of the importance of referencing at university.
Assignment Requirements
Write a business report of not more than 20 pages (excluding the report cover sheet, table of contents and end-text
reference list), addressed to your tutor and lecturer, in which you:
(a) Determine how well, or otherwise, the Australian mining company Glencore, discharged its accountability to
its stakeholders with respect to the following seven GRI G4 social, economic and environmental aspects and
indicators for 2015.

Stakeholder Engagement (GRI Indicators: G4-24 to G4-27 inclusive).
Economic Performance (GRI Indicator: G4-EC1).
Indirect Economic Impacts (GRI Indicators: G4-EC8 & G4-EC9).
Energy Consumption (GRI Indicators: G4-EN3 (a) (b) (e) & (f) & G4-EN6).
Water (GRI Indicators: G4-EN8 & G4-EN10).
Emissions (GRI Indicators: G4-EN15 (a) (b) (d) (e) & (f); and G4-EN19).
Occupational Health and Safety (GRI Indicator: G4-LA6).

(b) Based on your findings in relation to (a) above, assess how well the company met the GRI G4 stakeholder
inclusiveness and sustainability context principles for defining report content (Section 4.1); and the following
GRI G4 principles for defining report quality (Section 4.2) balance, comparability, clarity and reliability. Note,
the issues addressed in the bullet points do not cover all aspects of the Sustainability Report. You will need to
acknowledge that fact as a limitation of your evaluation of how well Glencore met the principles.
(c) Make key recommendations to the company with respect to their accountability for their performance in
relation to the aspects (indicators) identified in (a) above.

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You are to take the position of a socially responsible investor who expects the company to report fully on its
performance in relation to the GRI G4 aspects (indicators) identified in (a) above.

Additional assignment requirements
1. The data on the GRI G4 aspects and indicators are to be presented in Table format. Use more than one Table,
otherwise the data will be too cumbersome and make your task and that of the examiner too difficult – it is
suggested that you provide a separate Table for each of the aspects. The Tables must identify the aspects and
indicators involved and whether the criteria were met fully, partially or not at all and the location (page number)
of the information/data relating to each indicator in the company’s 2015 Sustainability Report or elsewhere, where
applicable. Note, Glencore states on page 20 of the Report that further details are available at the following website
www.glencore.com/sustainability.
2. You must use the Harvard author-date referencing system, where applicable.
3. You must reference correctly, both in the body of your report (in-text) and at the end of the report (end-text).
4. Please use the following format for the body of the report: 12 font, Times New Roman margins of 2.5 cm. The
format will make the markers’ task easier. You may, however, use 10 font for your Tables.
5. Point 4 above does not specify the line spacing required. Line spacing is a matter for your judgement in the process
of generating a professional standard of report. To that end, it is important that you refer to a good publication on
communications in arriving at the approach you will take to structuring your report.
6. Do not place the assignment in a plastic cover, simply staple it at the top left-hand corner. Further, use double
sided printing.
7. Attach a completed copy of the RSA Assignment Cover sheet to the front of your assignment. Please note that in
signing the document you acknowledge (a) that the “work contained in the assignment is solely [your] own, except
for reliance on material that is identified and cited according to accepted academic practice”; and (b) “ [You] have
read and understood the ANU’s Code of Practice for Student Academic Honesty” [Academic Misconduct Rules
2014]. (ANU College of Business and Economics)
Additional information
A
copy
of
the
GRI
G4
document
is
available
at
the
following
web
address
https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/g4/Pages/default.aspx. The Glencore Sustainability Report 2015 is
available at the following web address http://www.glencore.com/assets/sustainability/doc/sd_reports/2015Sustainability-report.pdf.
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