Milena Peršić

Framework for performance measurement in hospitality industry - case study Slovenia.

Abstract Hotel organizations in transition economies must create effective competitive methods for survival, since they exist in an environment where both customer and investor are demanding more from every organization. In search of solutions they should use performance measurement system that meets the requirements of a changed environment. The aim of this paper is to present how developed is performance measurement in hotel organizations in Slovenia. The article is based on the research carried out in Slovenia in hotels with over 100 rooms. First the necessary information for various decision-making levels will be introduced together with the criteria for efficiency measurement and then the basic hypothesis will be tested by relevant statistical methods.

Chapter 11 Challenges of Environmental Accounting in Tourism Destination as a Trend of Sustainable Development

A tourist destination represents a dynamically regulated system that evolves in space and time. Therefore, it is necessary to anticipate various system reactions to internal and external influences, so that actions can be directed towards the specific goals of supply and demand for products of tourist destinations. A successful process in the life cycle of tourist destination product planning is based on the anticipation and awareness of all participants of supply and demand, as the sustainability values must be perceived within the framework of an integrated destination product. It is necessary to examine assumptions and features of the market valuation of destination business processes from an economic, social and environmental standpoint in line with the principles of sustainable development. This implies the creation of a methodological basis for the recognition, measurement and tracking of complex processes and synergic effects, important for the development of relevant management information-based structures and functions. Measuring the eco-efficiency of a tourist destination represents the basis for building a system of reporting on changes and impacts individual business subjects deployed in the environment. An integrative information system of tourist destinations should provide information on the eco-efficiency of individual business processes, activities, products or a Strategic Business Units (SBUs) entire life cycle. Obtained information allows for the preparation of an information basis for reporting on environmental aspects within the system of tourist destinations sustainable development reporting.

DISCLOSING NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATION IN COMPANIES’ REPORTS IN CROATIA

Subsequent to the provision of the Directive 2014/95/EU requiring disclosure of non-financial and diversity information of all EU Member States companies with 500 and more employees, a research was conducted at the beginning of 2016 on a sample of sustainability reports disclosed by Croatian companies in 2014 that had registered 400 and more employees in that same year, with an assumption of their growth by 2018 in terms of the number of their employees. This research was focused on the structure of the indicators identified in non-financial reports, viewed as content-oriented and entry-oriented measures (attributes). The indicators analyzed were extracted from the original research done on the quality of non-financial reports of the companies in Croatia registering 400 and more employees. The method employed was a content analysis. The results show that many of the disclosed sustainability indicators are “story-tellers”, meaning that they are past-oriented and qualitatively stated, suggesting that activities concerning sustainability in company are present, but no cause-effect relationships are presented therein. The results point to a need for significant improvements in defining a minimum of requirements for the indicators disclosed in non-financial reports. Since very few indicators reflect all of the attributes assessed in this research, there is a need for finding ways to capture relevant data in accounting of enterprises, so as to establish a requirement for comparability of non-financial information disclosed in sustainability reports and thus bring about the requirements of the Directive 2014/95/EU.

Framework for improving quality and comparability of non-financial reporting system

This research was aimed at evaluating the methodological framework to be applied in strategic as well as in responsibility accounting, as a prerequisite for ensuring the relevant information, necessary for preparing and evaluating sustainable development strategies, using Directive 2014/95/EU framework. In order to assess the current situation in the Republic of Croatia, a survey on the sample of 64 big Croatian companies in different industries in the year 2013 was conducted. The sample of selected companies was chosen on the basis of membership in the Croatian Business Council for Sustainable Development (HR BCSD) and of the companies that follow the principles of sustainable development in their business and declare themselves as environmentally and socially responsible. Research results will be confirmed through comparison with previous findings conducted in the year 2007, but also compared with the relevant information collected from 71 companies of eight EU countries. The goal is to assess whether the achieved level of strategic and sustainable accounting tools in the Croatian companies are sufficient to provide relevant information for non-financial reporting for external and internal users in the process of long and short term decision making. Recognized gaps will be the starting points for defining the opportunities and areas in the process of harmonization between internal and external sustainability reporting system. The goal is in recognizing starting points, opportunities and areas, which are important for internal and external sustainability reporting, taking into, account the provisions of the globally accepted standards and the new EU Directive.

Exploring the quality of social information disclosed in non-financial reports of Croatian companies

Abstract By enacting the provisions of Directive 2014/95/EU and the Croatian Accounting Act on disclosing non-financial and diversity information, companies of public interest registering 500 and more employees are required to disclose non-financial information. The purpose of this research is to assess the quality of disclosed social information in non- financial/sustainability reports of Croatian companies. The assessment of the social information was grounded on the framework defined by globally accepted sustainability reporting standards by assessing the quality of social sub-categories of human rights, labour practice, community/society and product, measured by attributes of relevance, clarity, verifiability, comparability and clarity. With the overall quality score of 13.16 (out of possible 36), the results prove that Croatian companies do disclose certain social information, but the reliability of this information for benchmarking and competitiveness assessment is questionable, as a consensus on the minimum of information to be disclosed as a fundamental requirement for benchmarking has not yet been reached.