Capturing non-financial information in integrated reporting

Abstract

In the contemporary business scenario, integrated reporting is a transformational form of corporate reporting. Integrated reporting provides material and substantial information about an entity's prospects, governance, strategy and actions that serve as a reflection of social and commercial viability within the holistic environment in which it operates (IIRC, 2013). Thus, in integrated reports, along with financial information the critical non-financial aspects that affect the reputation, performance and sustainability of the firm are also required to be reported by companies. While regulations are instituted for compulsory divulgence of non-financial information as part of annual reports, there is a lot of ambiguity regarding the non- financial items to be included and the manner of reporting. This paper delineates the non-financial capital components for disclosure in integrated reports. It also discusses the current practices of integrated reporting world over, which will help organisations gain clarity in presenting the non-financial items under different heads of non-financial capitals.