Tax Transparency in the Sustainability Reporting of Swedish Listed Banks

Abstract: This study aims to examine and explain the increase in tax transparency in sustainability reports among Swedish listed banks. The documents included in the analysis are sustainability reports, tax policies, and annual reports between 2007-2020. A content analysis is made by measuring the frequency of keywords related to tax in sustainability reports and qualitatively examining tax policy statements. Regulations and standards relevant to the topic are considered as well as major events and scandals causing negative media coverage of the banks studied. Analysis is based on previous literature and stakeholder theory. Findings suggest large multi-national banks are more tax transparent than smaller banks due to public pressure stemming from scandals and events negatively covered by media as well as adhering to more international regulations and standards.