Chapter 4: Empirical Analysis

Since the launch of the first Discussion Paper by the IIRC, in September 2011, many contributes on Integrated Reporting (IR) have been proposed by both professional associations, auditing companies, consulting firms (Ernst & Young, 2014; Global Reporting Initiatives [GRI], 2013; KPMG, 2012; PWC, 2010) and the IIRC itself,¹as well as academics (Eccles & Krzus, 2014; Eccles & Saltzman, 2011; Eccles & Serafeim, 2011, 2013, 2015).

The IR is generally considered a natural evolution of the corporate reporting movement, aimed at favoring the implementation of a sustainable strategy by an integrated thinking. This should enable stakeholders to evaluate more effectively an organization’s ability to create present as well future value. Moreover, the integrated report should highlight an organization’s use of and dependence on different types of resources/capitals, in order to allow users of performance information to assess firm long-term viability and more effectively allocate scarce resources (Verschoor, 2011).