‘REPORTING VALUE CREATION AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR SMES’ is the recent massive online open course realized by Bologna University and other four European Universities with the goal to encourage Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to consider sustainability as a mean for value creation, while helping students, consultants, managers, and entrepreneurs in understanding the value of reporting.
SMEs encounter several obstacles in today's dynamic economic environment. Understanding and effectively communicating value creation and sustainability have emerged as essential components for SMEs seeking long-term success. SMEs can improve transparency, accountability, competitive advantage, risk management, access to capital, regulatory compliance, innovation, and efficiency by implementing sustainable practices and effectively communicating their efforts in that direction.
This course presents several aspects of value creation and sustainability reporting from SMEs’ perspective. This MOOC is structured in 5 weeks (plus a Week 0 with a course introduction) and each week presents crucial elements that provide an in-depth understanding of the subject. Each week has modules and units consisting of readings, videos and interviews, case studies, and quizzes, according to the following structure by topics:
The course is realized within the European+ Program titled “INTEGRES - Integrated Reporting and Education for Sustainability”, co-funded by the European Union.
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
No prerequisite knowledge is required.
The course includes ongoing quizzes for self-evaluation. They are similar to the final quiz made of 15 close-ended questions. The course is considered successfully completed if the participant answers correctly at least 60% of the 15 questions included in the final quiz. After successfully completing the course you can download and print out the Certificate of Accomplishment The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completed the course by answering correctly to at least 60% of the questions. You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly on "Progress" tab inside the course. The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree. For further information, see FAQ page. Petra Amersfoort has been a lecturer in the School of Management and Finance at AVANS University of Applied Sciences in Breda since 2016. Her main teaching domain is administrative organisation, a combination of process management, COSO and Lean principles. As a former financial controller and manager, Petra has experience in (financial) reporting and business control in SMEs. Selena Aureli, PhD, is Associate Professor of Business Administration and Accounting Studies at the University of Bologna. Previously, she has held several teaching positions as Assistant Professor at the University of Urbino, Italy. During her career, Selena Aureli has participated to several conferences and given speeches at foreign Universities (e.g., Higher school of Economics of Moscow, Tampere University, University of Sarazoga, Technological University Dublin) as visiting professor. Her major research interests are in the field of performance measurement, sustainability and business reporting. Her main publications on sustainability and ESG information are the following: “Nonfinancial reporting regulation and challenges in sustainability disclosure and corporate governance practices”, in Business Strategy and The Environment, 2020; “The value relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosure: Evidence from Dow Jones Sustainability World Index listed companies”, in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, and “Corporate Social Responsibility in Italy: current and future developments”, in Idowu, S.O., Current Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility: In the Era of Sustainable Development Goals, Springer. In 2002, she obtained her PhD in Business Administration at the University of Pisa. Since 2019, she has been Director of the Second-Cycle Degree in Economics and Commerce, Forlì Campus and she is currently member of the Faculty Committee of the Department of Management.
Monica teaches at the Forlì Campus of the University of Bologna, in the area of management accounting, specifically Financial Accounting, Financial Analysis, and Performance Management Systems.
She is also lecturer in several MBA, Corporate MBA, EMBA and Global MBA programs of Bologna Business School, as well as in the PhD program of the Department of Management.
She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Cardiff Business School (Cardiff University) at the Lean Enterprise Research Centre, where she took part in the “3DayCar” Programme, sponsored by the English Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and by more than 20 companies of the automotive industry.
Her main research interests are business performance analytics and performance management systems, financial and sustainability reporting.
In addition to teaching and research, she is involved in social activities and, in particular, she was the president of a non-profit organization for 11 years (2009-2019), in the area of educational services.
Astrid Cocquyt is a lecturer and researcher at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She has two Masters degrees, one in Business Economics and Accountancy, and one in Educational Studies. Since 2017, she has been a lecturer at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Her teaching domains are accounting, research skill development, strategic management and value creation. Furthermore, she has been involved in several research projects related to social entrepreneurship, refugee integration and clothes sharing platforms. Since 2021, she has been a researcher at Research Centre for Sustainable Organizations at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, with a research focus on sustainability reporting and sustainable business models. Her work has been published in Journal of Business Strategy and the Environment, and presented internationally. Carine Coppens is head of degree programme Financial Management at the School of Business and Management of HOGENT, University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She has 30 years of experience in accounting education and practice-oriented research. Her teaching domains are financial accounting, consolidation and taxation. She coordinated several research projects in the field of accounting and taxation. These projects focused on the harmonization of corporate taxation in Europe and on the role of external accountants as service providers for SMEs. Recent research analyses acquisitions in the sector of assurance brokers and integrated reporting. Sustainability is an important issue for her. Recently, she followed the SDG train the trainer program (CIFAL/UNITAR). She has several publications and has presented at national and international conferences. Furthermore, she is a member of the HOGENT Research Centre for Sustainable Organizations. She is a member of the examination committee of the professional institute of accountants in Belgium and has a large professional network within the accounting and SME world. Dr. Stefanie De Bruyckere is a lecturer and researcher at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Business and Management. She obtained her PhD in Business Economics at Ghent University (2021), entitled “The Role of External Accountants as Service Providers for SMEs”. In 2010, she obtained her Master’s degree of Science in Business Administration (specialization Accounting and Taxation) and graduated magna cum laude. In 2011, she also obtained her Master’s degree of Science in Teaching Economics (Business Administration) at Ghent University. Since 2011, she has been a lecturer at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Business and Management. Her teaching domains are accounting and taxation. Since 2013, she has also contributed to several research projects in the field of accounting and taxation, including integrated reporting. Stefanie published her academic work in international journals such as Sustainability and Australian Accounting Review. Federica has been Associate Professor since 2015. She has gainedearned the Bachelor of Economics and Commerce in 1998 being awarded awith first-class honours degree. She gained a PhD in, Economics and Management of Public Organisations in 2004. Among her Research Expertise are: non-financial disclosure, New Public Management, Integrated Reporting, Directive 2014/95/UE and the Proposal on CSR (2021), Sustainable development and related reporting, Intellectual capital, SMEs non-financial reporting, Public sector, etc... She has been responsible, or part of the team, of many international projects for the value of over above 1,.000.000 euro, among which Sustainable Management of Organisations Group. She has been Visiting Research Fellow, among others at the University Technology of Sydney, The School of Commerce of South Australia University and The University of Sydney. She is a member of the Editorial Board of many Journals, among which Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal and Meditari Accountancy Research. She has published her research in top journals such as Public Management Review and Accounting Forum. She teaches in international curricula topics related to Accounting and Financial Statements, Principles of Accounting, Accounting, Ethics and social responsibility and Environmental Auditing and Corporate Social Responsibility. Marjolein has over 10 years of experience as a lecturer in higher education at Avans University of Applied sciences. She teaches students of the bachelor program Accountancy. Her fields of expertise are Accounting and Financial reporting. Over the last four years, she has specialized in the topic of Integrated reporting. She has broad experience in developing educational material. She has already developed educational material about the subject Integrated reporting. She has also provided various educational activities on the subject of Integrated reporting. During her career at Avans she has followed various educational courses such as Teaching in higher education – coaching skills – educational design – exam
design – learning objectives – rubric design – ICT (flipping the classroom, blended learning, digital assessment) - functioning of the learning brain - the functioning of memory when learning – critical thinking – sustainable development Goals. Dr. Benjamin Lynch is a lecturer in Finance at the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance in Technological University Dublin. He completed his PhD in Sustainable Finance at Trinity Business School in 2022, having obtained a MSc in International Management (TCD), H.Dip in Business (Dublin Business School) and a BA in Economics and History (UCD). His research examines how markets treat ESG information in relation to value, risk and investor preference with particular focus on the impact of country-level institutions and regulation. He lectures on courses in Sustainable finance, ESG, Corporate Finance, and Financial Markets and Institutions.
Tahis is a researcher in Sustainable Finance & Accounting at the Centre of Expertise Wellbeing Economy and Entrepreneurship at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting (AVANS, 2020). Her graduation thesis was about carbon accounting. She calculated the carbon emissions of the production location of a Dutch food firm and the carbon footprint of some vegetarian snacks. After graduating with Master degree in Management Science from the University of Pavia (Italy), she
obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Nancy in 2005 (France)
and gained excellent experience of financial and management accounting, having then worked as a
management controller for 2 years, in a French company. Eleonora Veglianti, PhD, is Associate professor at the Faculty of Management, Economy and Sciences - University Catholic of Lille, France. Tom Vos is a lecturer Economics and Finance at Avans University of Applied Sciences for more than 25 year. He has a master degree in Economics (University of Maastricht) and a degree in Education (University of Tilburg). We want to thank all the companies that have contributed to the realization of this MOOC:Quizzes and scores
Certificate of Accomplishment
FAQ
Course Staff
Petra Amersfoort
Selena Aureli
Monica Bartolini
Astrid Cocquyt
Carine Coppens
Stefanie De Bruyckere
Federica Farneti
Marjolein van der Kaa
She has completed a masterclass at the Business School University of Groningen about reporting and providing assurance in the case of non-financial information and is currently studying for a master’s degree in Educational Sciences.
As a former SME accountant she has extensive experience in advising SMEs. In her role as a lecturer, she also has close connections with SMEs. Because she is still registered in the Dutch register of accountants, she has contacts with other SME accountants on a regular basis.
Benjamin Lynch
Tahis Marti
She is currently studying for a master’s degree in Circular Economy at the HAN University of Applied Sciences, where she is being trained as a change agent to drive the transition towards a circular economy. Her research areas are on multiple value creation, new forms of sustainability and financial reporting, circular economy and accounting in the building sector and sustainable finance.
Elisabetta Magnaghi
She was then engaged in a process of doctoral research before being awarded a Ph.D in Management
Sciences from the University of Lorraine and one from the University of Pisa in December 2012. Her
Ph.D’s were obtained within the framework of the international co-supervision agreement, involving the
two Universities.
She worked for several years at the University of Lorraine and then she joint Renmin University of China. She had some experiences as visiting professor in international Universities. Now she is Dean of the
faculty of Management and Economic and Science at University Catholic of Lille.
Her research interests are the integration of socio-environmental information in annual corporate report,
Sustainability accounting and reporting, and the explanation business model in corporate reporting.
Eleonora Veglianti
Her research expertise is in digital transformation in organizations, smart society, artificial intelligence, smart working and organizational issues. She spent different periods abroad to collect data for her researches.
She was a visiting Ph.D. student in Wuhan University, in China. She is author of several scientific papers. She managed special tracks in different conferences (i.e. ItAIS, ICTO).
Tom Vos
He has broad experiences in developing educational material and innovative education. He developed several courses and wrote educational material. Currently he is working for the international Business school (ABE) of Avans University of Applied Sciences and as a guest lecture at Accadis Hochschule, Bad Homburg in Germany.
The last 7 years he is a researcher for the Expertise Centre of Sustainable Finance and Accounting of Avans University of Applied Sciences. He specialized in Integrated Reporting. He organized masterclasses for business and accounting lecturers and developed courses about Integrated Reporting.
Acknowledgement