Methodical Aspects of the Integrated Reporting Preparation

Abstract

Enterprises carry out financial and economic activities under constant changes, which directly or indirectly affect the content, volume and structure of information flows arising from identifying, measuring and formalising data related to economic operations and their results. The article aims to identify the elements of the preparation method of integrated reporting, the application of which by the accountant will help increase the degree of satisfaction of users' information needs. It was established that the preparation of integrated reporting includes three stages: determining users' information needs, obtaining relevant information for forming indicators, and directly filling out forms of integrated reporting. The first stage's goal is to establish the characteristics that should be concise, understandable for most users, and meaningful enough to make adequate management decisions on their basis. An essential aspect of the second stage is the determination of the sources of obtaining the necessary data with the identification of factors that contribute to reducing the cost of acquiring data, ensuring their relevance in terms of the time of receipt and intended purpose, as well as availability and a high level of trust. The preparation of integrated reports involves the selection of an acceptable conceptual basis that would consider the branch and territorial aspects of the functioning of business entities, their organisational and functional structure, policies and procedures for implementing individual financial and economic operations, and segments of activity. An accountant's application in practical activities of the approach to the preparation of integrated reporting disclosed in the article will allow the assessment of the expediency of obtaining individual data based on their importance for users, the ratio of benefits from receiving them, and related costs. Qualitatively prepared integrated reporting will give users confidence that formalised and properly systematised indicators characterise the enterprise's economic activity, taking into account the influence of quantitative, qualitative and cost factors.

Keywords

• integrated reporting
• information requests
• stakeholders
• method
• management information support