Presenting a Sustainability Reporting Model for Municipalities

The occurrence of a large number of scandals and financial corruption in some Iranian city councils and municipalities in the last decade shows evidence of unethical and irresponsible practices from the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Also, the development process of cities and the consequent increase in municipal revenues, on the one hand, and the lack of proper supervision on the performance of municipalities due to the existence of the city council, on the other hand, have increased the power and authority of municipalities. Thus, municipalities face increasing pressure from citizens to have a broad attitude regarding their goals and activities in economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Sustainability reporting is one of the main drivers of change in the company's sustainability activities. Preparing a sustainability report can influence change in public sector organizations. Regarding the advantages of sustainability reporting in the various companies, including public and governmental organizations, to preserve the social rights of citizens, environmental resources, and the economic benefits of shareholders, the primary purpose of this research is to understand the current situation of sustainability reporting in municipalities, explaining its dimensions and indicators, and finally presenting a sustainability reporting model for municipalities.  The current research consists of three steps: 1. Identifying sustainability concepts and keywords in the literature using content analysis techniques; 2. Identifying the primary indicators of the topics discussed in the focus group using the coding method, 3. Using the method Delphi (which is conducted to validate the dimensions and indicators identified in the second stage), and 4. Finally, it will present the final sustainability reporting model for Iranian municipalities. In the first step, keywords that are used for sustainability reporting using the method of content analysis of sustainability reports of different cities (such as Sydney, Toronto, KF, Florida, and Dubai) and guidelines related to the field of sustainability (such as ESG, GRI, IFC, ISO26000, SASB, and CDP) were extracted. The necessary information was collected through the focus group in the second step, and the topics were discussed. The participants were selected from a group of experts from the Iranian municipalities (financial and economic, urban services, and green spaces). These people had the necessary knowledge, experience, expertise, scientific and professional sincerity in different ways and based on specific research. After identifying dimensions and indicators, we prepared and set up a questionnaire in the third step and distributed it to the experts from municipalities and other stakeholders. The Delphi method was used to create consensus and to screen sustainability categories. Finally, a proposed model of sustainability reporting for Iranian municipalities was presented. The findings show that the dimensions of sustainability reporting in municipalities include "economic", "environmental", "work and production", "management and human capital", "determinants of excellence and progress", and "reporting characteristics". Also, four indicators of economic performance, the economic conditions of the stakeholders, the municipalities' economic conditions, and the country's macroeconomic conditions are related to the economic dimension. Four indicators, including compatibility with the environment, environmental sustainability, infrastructure and facilities, and the allocation of facilities and privileges, are related to the environmental dimension. Six indicators, including sustainable supply chain, legal requirements, sustainable intellectual interaction (human capital), adherence to legal payments, use of technology, and corporate governance, belong to the work and production dimension. Six indicators of effective communication, ethical characteristics of accountants, the relationship between employee and manager, management ability, expert managers, and expert forces belong to the management and human capital dimension. Four indicators of participation and development of valuation methods, dealing without discrimination with offenders, criteria for determining rights and benefits, and responsibility and social involvement belong to the dimension of determinants of excellence and progress. Seven indicators, including accounting records, timeliness of report, compliance with accounting principles, neutrality of the report, report transparency, sources of collecting the report, and qualitative characteristics of the information, are the report's characteristics dimension. Sustainability reporting can be considered as a solution for making changes in the organizational management of municipalities, transparency in all municipal matters such as financial (economic), urban services and green space (environmental), social responsibility, and reacting to the requirements of all stakeholders. Exploring the sustainability reports of various cities in the world showed that they have no limitations on how to present and use the dimensions and indicators included in the current guidelines and standards, such as GRI, CDP, and SASB, to prepare the sustainability report. They do not follow a specified routine. In other words, in order to legitimize themselves, in line with accountability, these organizations voluntarily disclose sustainability reports. The results of this research can be utilized as a practical step to create the necessary understanding and motivation for sustainability reporting and to attract the managers' and regulators' attention to incorporate sustainability reporting in their voluntary or mandatory reporting to stakeholders with a sustainable development perspective.