This study deals with sustainability reporting in three governmental and three non-governmental Swedish companies in different industries. With increasing demands from the society regarding company’s CSR - Corporate social responsibility, the perspective of accounting gets broader and covers even non-financial information to meet not only the owners’ demands but also others stakeholders' requirements. Sustainability has become an important tool for creating company’s business value and a positive sustainable external image. Different requirements in the field of such accounting for state and non-state enterprises make the phenomenon interesting to study. The purpose of this study was to find out how the sustainability reporting differs between governmental and non-governmental Swedish companies and how it is influenced by the legitimacy and stakeholders’ perspective.

The six companies included in the case study were state-owned SAS, Vattenfall and TeliaSonera and non-governmental Peab, Alfa-Laval and RNB Retail and Brands. To understand the phenomenon and explain the empirical data the using of legitimacy and stakeholder theories were helpful. Furthermore, mandatory and optional regulations in the area were presented, as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, which are becoming more recognized as a standard for sustainability reporting. The Empirical data was taken from interviewing the qualified people from the respective companies, corporate sustainability reports and other sustainability-related information. After the completed research it revealed that sustainability reporting is different depending on the type of company, its business and its stakeholders. The non-mandatory regulation in the area creates flexibility for the company, which gives companies greater capacity and opportunity for self-regulation within the CSR field.