Black Sun and the IIRC have published a behind the scenes perspective on how organisations are moving towards Integrated Reporting, titled ‘The Integrated Reporting journey: the inside story’.

In 2014, Black Sun and the IIRC completed research to understand what the business benefits of Integrated Reporting were from the perspective of the Pilot Programme participants. This included global organisations such as HSBC, Aegon, DIMO, Eskom and Eni. The case for the benefits was overwhelming as evidenced below:

• 92% say Integrated Reporting has increased the understanding of how their organisations create – or destroy – value.
• 84% of organisations reported improvements in data quality, as it provides a better way to assess and measure performance.
• 79% of organisations found that there were improvements in decision-making as a result of changes to management information.

 

Now we are releasing the inside stories behind this research… 

This latest publication includes in-depth interviews with 27 organisations from 11 countries around the world, with stories that will resonate across sectors and organisation types. The interviews come from those working towards their first Integrated Report through to those that are well on their way towards <IR>, having already published a few Integrated Reports. Each story is unique with its own rationales, challenges and benefits. However, the overwhelming advice from the organisations was the same – for those considering Integrated Reporting, just get started.  

Quotes which highlight some of these benefits include the following:

“More people have opened up to the idea of managing non-financial issues. More people now understand the financial impact of what were previously considered sustainability issues”.

New Zealand Post, New Zealand

“Integrated Reporting led to additional internal insights, which led to better management decisions in some cases. We see the most material non-financial information as leading indicators of financial performance.”

Akzo Nobel, Netherlands

Sallie Pilot, Director of Research and Strategy, said, “We believe better Integrated Reporting is just better reporting. Reporting helps drive better decision-making which in turn helps drive better businesses in the long term. We have seen this through our everyday work with clients and also with this research, and it is clear that the actual process of reporting can help to change behaviours and thinking within an organisation to drive change for the better.”