Accounting and Information Support for Sustainability Reporting: Formation and Adaptation to ESRS Requirements

The introduction of the CSRD and ESRS expands the requirements for disclosing information regarding sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities, and necessitates the alignment of financial and non-financial data. The fragmentation of reporting information across an enterprise’s subsystems complicates its compilation, control, and verification. This article aims to substantiate the theoretical and organizational-methodical foundations for generating the information required for sustainability reporting and to identify ways to adapt these processes to ESRS requirements. The research methodology is based on an analysis of the CSRD and ESRS provisions, as well as scientific articles and methodical materials on the preparation of sustainability reports. Methods of analysis and synthesis, systematization, comparison, and structural-logical modeling were employed to process the collected data. The research findings indicate that the implementation of ESRS transforms corporate reporting from a predominantly financially oriented model into a system of interconnected financial and non-financial information disclosure. Key characteristics of this transformation include the expansion of the reporting information perimeter, the application of the double materiality concept, and heightened requirements for data quality, traceability, and verifiability. While accounting performs an integrating function, it is not a universal source of sustainability information. Therefore, adapting accounting to ESRS requirements should not involve creating a separate “sustainability accounting” system, but rather developing analytical accounting and integrating financial and non-financial information flows. The article presents a matrix-based approach to structuring accounting and information support by establishing links among material ESRS disclosures, data sources, accounting objects, analytical dimensions, non-financial indicators, responsible departments, and control procedures. This approach ensures the methodical organization of the information chain, extending from the primary source to the final disclosure in reports. The research findings enable improvements in analytical accounting, regulation of information flows and internal controls, and enhancement of data traceability, reliability, and verifiability as enterprises prepare for ESRS reporting.