Integrated reporting: history, verification, prospects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of integrated reporting as a dynamically developing part of corporate reporting. Public non-financial reporting is defined as a set of indicators reflecting the goals, approaches and performance of corporations on significant issues of social responsibility and sustainable development. Despite the identified similarities between various approaches to disclosure of non-financial information, the hallmarks of integrated reporting are integrated thinking underlying the management structure, commitment to the environmental agenda, and demonstrating the ability of an economic entity to generate value in the short, medium and long term. The objectives of the study are to identify the historical stages in the development of integrated reporting in the Russian Federation, to determine the method of verifying such reporting, which causes the greatest confidence among stakeholders, and to identify the prospects for reporting non-financial nature in the format of integrated reporting. The work used general scientific principles and methods of research: induction and deduction, synthesis and analysis, logical linking, systematization of the theoretical foundations and practice of presenting non-financial information by economic entities included in the MOEX (Moscow exchange index) and MCXSM (middle and small capitalization index) indices. In the course of the work carried out, it was revealed that not all companies that list their shares on the Moscow exchange publish non-financial information, and companies that place non-financial statements do this in the form of a sustainable development report, integrated reporting, social report, environmental report or social environmental report. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of the author’s periodization of the stages of development of integrated reporting in the Russian Federation; development of audit stages for integrated reporting based on the International Standard for Assurance Engagements, as well as taking into account the specifics of the structure and principles of disclosure of non-financial information; formation of a SWOT-analysis matrix of integrated reporting in terms of information on sustainable development. The results obtained in the course of the study are of theoretical and applied importance and can be used as a basis for preparing an integrated reporting package; the plan and program for the audit of non-financial information, as well as when substantiating the decision to place integrated reporting in the public space. The direction of further research is the structure of the package of integrated reporting, taking into account the peculiarities of the functioning of the ecosystems of an economic entity, as well as the development of a SWOT-analysis matrix for integrated reporting in terms of information on ecology and social.

Keywords

• integrated reporting
• verification
• esg standards
• professional judgment
• audit
• swot-analysis