The Integrated Reporting Movement: Meaning, Momentum, Motives, and Materiality

Book description

An in-depth, enlightening look at the integrated reporting movement

The Integrated Reporting Movement explores the meaning of the concept, explains the forces that provide momentum to the associated movement, and examines the motives of the actors involved. The book posits integrated reporting as a key mechanism by which companies can ensure their own long-term sustainability by contributing to a sustainable society. Although integrated reporting has seen substantial development due to the support of companies, investors, and the initiatives of a number of NGOs, widespread regulatory intervention has yet to materialize. Outside of South Africa, adoption remains voluntary, accomplished via social movement abetted, to varying degrees, by market forces. In considering integrated reporting's current state of play, the authors provide guidance to ensure wider adoption of the practice and success of the movement, starting with how companies can improve their own reporting processes. But the support of investors, regulators, and NGOs is also important. All will benefit, as will society as a whole.

Readers will learn how integrated reporting has evolved over the years, where frameworks and standards are today, and the practices that help ensure effective implementation—including, but not limited to an extensive discussion of information technology's role in reporting and the importance of corporate reporting websites. The authors introduce the concepts of an annual board of directors' "Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality" and a "Sustainable Value Matrix" tool that translates the statement into management decisions. The book argues that the appropriate combination of market and regulatory forces to speed adoption will vary by country, concluding with four specific recommendations about what must be done to accelerate high quality adoption of integrated reporting around the world.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Series Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Foreword
  6. Preface
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Chapter 1: South Africa
    1. The Uniqueness Of South Africa
    2. South Africa's Journey to Integrated Reporting
    3. South African Assessment of the South AFrican Experience
    4. Our Reflections on the South African Experience
    5. Notes
  9. Chapter 2: Meaning
    1. Company Experimentation: Examples from the First Integrated Reports
    2. Expert Commentary: The First Reflections on Integrated Reporting
    3. Codification: Creating Common Meaning
    4. Notes
  10. Chapter 3: Momentum
    1. Adoption
    2. Accelerators
    3. Awareness
    4. Notes
  11. Chapter 4: Motives
    1. Companies
    2. Audience
    3. Supporting Organizations and Initiatives
    4. Regulators
    5. Service Providers
    6. Notes
  12. Chapter 5: Materiality
    1. The Social Construction of Materiality
    2. Materiality in Environmental Reporting
    3. Comparing Different Definitions of Materiality
    4. Audience
    5. Governance
    6. Materiality for Integrated Reporting
    7. Notes
  13. Chapter 6: The Sustainable Value Matrix
    1. A Short History of the Materiality Matrix
    2. Issues With the Matrix
    3. The Current State of Materiality Matrices
    4. From the Materiality Matrix to the Sustainable Value Matrix
    5. Notes
  14. Appendix 6A: Comparing the Ford and Daimler Materiality Matrices
    1. Notes
  15. Appendix 6B: Methodology for the Materiality Matrices Review
    1. Note
  16. Chapter 7: Report Quality
    1. The Six Capitals
    2. Content Elements
    3. Special Factors
    4. Assurance
    5. Notes
  17. Appendix 7A: Methodology for Analyzing 124 Company Integrated Reports
    1. Notes
  18. Chapter 8: Reporting Websites
    1. Methodology
    2. Website Category Analysis
    3. Website Feature Analysis
    4. Three Examples
    5. SAP 24
    6. Notes
  19. Appendix 8A: Methodology for Website Coding
  20. Chapter 9: Information Technology
    1. Integrated Reporting Processes
    2. Four IT Trends
    3. Contextual Reporting
    4. (World Market Basket)
    5. Notes
  21. Chapter 10: Four Recommendations
    1. A Very Brief History of Financial Reporting
    2. Balancing Experimentation and Codification
    3. Balancing Market and Regulatory Forces
    4. Greater Advocacy from the Accounting Community
    5. Achieving Clarity Regarding the Roles of Key Organizations
    6. A Possible Scenario
    7. Final Reflection
    8. Notes
  22. About the Authors
  23. Index
  24. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: The Integrated Reporting Movement: Meaning, Momentum, Motives, and Materiality
  • Author(s): Robert Eccles, Michael Krzus
  • Release date: November 2014
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118646984