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Forward‐looking information in integrated reports: Insights from “best in class”

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  • Chiara Mio
  • Pier Luigi Marchini
  • Alice Medioli

Abstract

Are integrated reports actually forward looking or do they disclose mainly the past? Stakeholders, particularly investors, increasingly call for more information on strategies, risks, and opportunities that companies face. Integrated Reporting, through its future‐oriented approach, represents a response to these corporate reporting challenges, by making companies disclose more about their future outlook, enabling investors and other stakeholders to take a much longer term view. In such a context, this study explore the extent and characteristics of forward‐looking information in reports that are recognized as best practices by a reputable awards process or through benchmarking in the International Integrated Reporting Council's database and proposes different dimensions of analysis. Overall, the results show that even among the best in class integrated reports, there are differences in the disclosure of forward‐looking information and that the information needs of stakeholders regarding future‐oriented disclosure do not seem to be fully met.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Mio & Pier Luigi Marchini & Alice Medioli, 2020. "Forward‐looking information in integrated reports: Insights from “best in class”," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2212-2224, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:27:y:2020:i:5:p:2212-2224
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1959
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    2. Abeer Hassan & Ahmed A. Elamer & Suman Lodh & Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy, 2021. "The future of non‐financial businesses reporting: Learning from the Covid‐19 pandemic," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1231-1240, July.
    3. Luca Leukhardt & Michel Charifzadeh & Fabian Diefenbach, 2022. "Does integrated reporting quality matter to capital markets? Empirical evidence from voluntary adopters," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1482-1494, September.
    4. Klarissa Lueg & Rainer Lueg, 2021. "Deconstructing corporate sustainability narratives: A taxonomy for critical assessment of integrated reporting types," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1785-1800, November.
    5. Andrea Giacomelli, 2022. "Mark to Target Information: idiosyncratic forward-looking information and its use to define primary ESG indicators," Working Papers 2022:08, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".

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