Integrated Reporting as support tool for sustainability management

The new concept of Integrated Reporting (IR) is a worldwide growing framework for data presentation focusing on the achievements of individuals. Its popularity increases every year, and many organizations are currently... [ view full abstract ]

The new concept of Integrated Reporting (IR) is a worldwide growing framework for data presentation focusing on the achievements of individuals. Its popularity increases every year, and many organizations are currently publishing their IR. The scope of information presented in IR describes a broad range of activities of a given organization. In addition to the financial data, it includes information concerning strategy and resource allocation, business models or corporate governance, which deserves special attention. The activities of individuals focus on the application of sustainable development management practices and therefore determine the need to conduct research in the field of support tools and methods. The main aim of the article is to answer the question if information contained in integrated reporting supports sustainable development management and simultaneous analyses of IR impact on the implementation of the idea of long-term value creation. For the purpose of the study, a review of international literature is presented, aimed at the analysis of the content recommended by IR. The research focuses on organizations involved in the field of healthcare.  The paper presents a preliminary qualitative analysis of IR content from the perspective of its compliance with the recommendations. The next stage is an in-depth analysis of the parameters which determine the implementation of the concept of long-term value creation. The use of Spearman, Tau Kendall and Gamma correlation coefficients allows for offering an answer to the question which underlies the presented analysis.The research confirms that data contained in integrated reports may be used as a support tool for sustainable management development. In the context of analysing the content of integrated reports and their impact on the implementation of the idea of long-term value creation, the obtained results indicate that the analysed issues cause much controversy. The originality of the study relies on the use of an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of integrated data presented in reports, indicating trade-offs between economic, environmental and social goals. The results of the conducted research can be applied in business practice. The conclusions of the study defined in the summary constitute guidelines for further research. They clearly indicate the need for a detailed qualitative analysis of the content of integrated reports in the future.

Keywords: integrated reporting, sustainability management.