Abstract
Integrated reporting (IR) is a new form of corporate reporting that has emerged after decades of calls by academics and practitioners for more holistic and integrated corporate reporting on the economic, environmental, and social aspects of business. The present research relied on a critical review of the literature on IR practices and sustainability reporting. Indexed journals were reviewed, and evidence was drawn upon to develop a model examining the possible determinants of IR in annual reports. To this end, reports from 20 different banks from 2012 to 2017 were considered. Analyzing the financial statements of these banks through their annual reports provided insightful disclosures concerning triple bottom lines (social, environmental, and economic); the findings of the study suggested that very few banks have taken initiatives to disclose such information in their annual reports. Using annual report content analysis, the findings showed that in 2017, companies started providing non-financial information regarding the environment, society, and governance along with financial figures. However, it is noteworthy that companies still provide this information in disconnected strands and as part of corporate governance or corporate social responsibility disclosures instead of linking such information to financial information and providing it within integrated reports.
Highlights
The complexity of the business world has led to growing demands being made of companies regarding the information provided on their financial performance, management, corporate governance and sustainability record (Odoemelam & Okafor, 2018)
We traced the sustainability reporting indexes under Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines and integrated reporting checklist under International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to verify whether they comply those components of reporting or not
From the above discussions an analysis we can conclude that banking sector in Bangladesh is regulated to a considerable extent in terms of practicing sustainability and integrated reporting in their annual reports
Summary
The complexity of the business world has led to growing demands being made of companies regarding the information provided on their financial performance, management, corporate governance and sustainability record (Odoemelam & Okafor, 2018). 148 Mohammad reporting with those charged with governance and states that the reliability of information is ‘Enhanced by mechanisms such as robust internal control and reporting systems, stakeholder engagement, internal audit (or similar functions) and independent, external assurance’. Past studies suggest that the practicing organizations’ underlying motive behind their non-financial disclosures is to maximize their financial capital and profit. This argumentation is related with many conceptual theories in academic literature that seek to justify the rationale for integrated reporting. The agency theory, stewardship theory, institutional theory and legitimacy theory are involved for disclosing integrated and sustainability reporting (Adeniyi & Fadipe, 2018; Onyali & Okafor, 2019)
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