Integrated reporting
Integrated Reporting (<IR>)
Integrated reporting (’<IR>’) provides a conceptual framework for thinking about how entities do business and how to communicate an entity's long term value proposition to the market. It aims to promote trust in business, stimulating long-term investment, robust corporate governance and responsible capitalism which are at the top of business and government agendas.
<IR> is about empowering and encouraging businesses to explain and be transparent about how they create, preserve or erode value. This is important both for the reasons above and also because the quality of a business’ information affects investors’ assessments about the quality of management.
At the heart of the concept of <IR> is the notion of integrated thinking: the active consideration by an organisation of the relationships between its various operating and functional units, and the capitals (i.e. its key relationships and resources) that the organisation uses or affects. Integrated thinking leads to integrated decision-making and actions that consider the creation of value over the short, medium and long-term.
The IFRS Foundation and the <IR> Framework
The <IR> Framework was originally published by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) (previously the International Integrated Reporting Committee). The IIRC had the objective to create a globally accepted framework for a process that results in communication by an organisation about value creation over time. In June 2021, the IIRC merged with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) to form the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF).
In August 2022, the VRF was fully incorporated into the IFRS Foundation. The IFRS Foundation’s International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) now assume joint responsibility for the <IR> Framework. Some jurisdictions have already adopted the <IR> Framework on a ‘comply or explain’ basis. The ISSB and IASB continues to encourage adoption of the <IR> Framework to drive high-quality corporate reporting. The current version of the Framework can be accessed on the Integrated Reporting webpage.
Further information on <IR> and the <IR> Framework can be found on this dedicated page.
