An Investigation of the Impact of Sustainability Reports on Investment Decisions: A Study of BIST 30 Companies

As the world's resources diminish, ensuring a sustainable planet for future generations has become a crucial issue that demands attention from all stakeholders. Consequently, various domains of life encounter the concept of sustainability. In this study, we analyzed the sustainability standards published by the Accounting, Public Oversight, and Auditing Standards Authority (KGK), which is the regulatory and supervisory body. Our aim was to clarify the connection between investment decisions and sustainability reports on businesses. This study employed the document analysis to examine the sustainability reports of the top 30 companies listed on the Borsa Istanbul (BIST 30) for the year 2022, using the S1 and S2 standards issued by KGK, with a focus on four key criteria. We allocated one (1) point to the company if it complied with these four criteria when preparing its sustainability report; otherwise, we assigned zero (0) points. Subsequently, we conducted diverse financial analysis on the 2022 financial data of these organizations and employed the Spearman correlation test to investigate the association between the outcomes and sustainability reporting. A strong correlation was found between sustainability reporting and the leverage ratio, earnings per share, firm size, asset return, and P/E ratio. The study highlights the significance of offering comprehensive explanations in line with applicable requirements when drafting sustainability reports, while also considering the influence of investor decisions on firms.