Country-by-country reporting: An assessment of its objective and scope

Abstract

Australia has recently introduced what is known as country-by-country (CbC) reporting. CbC reporting will require certain multinationals to provide reports to the Australian Tax Office outlining their global financial activities. The introduction of CbC reporting is a result of the OECD’s recommendations on Action 13 of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting program. Despite its introduction, civil society groups, international organisations and businesses lack consensus as to the objective and scope of CbC reporting. This article utilises the extractives industry as a case study and then critically assesses the contradictory academic findings and views as to the objective and scope of CbC reporting. Using stakeholder theory, this article argues that a comprehensive CbC reporting framework should assist the numerous information users who engage with a multinational entity, whilst concurrently ensuring a multinational entity can be held accountable to those impacted by its business operations.