Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1,7, Berlin School of Economics and Law, course: MA Accounting & Controlling, language: English, abstract: It appears that the process towards mandatory Integrated Reporting is inevitable. The businesses need to be prepared to take the first steps towards applying these new reporting principles to remain successful over long term. At the same time many practitioners raise many justified questions, as there is no established Integarted Reporting framework, guidelines or thorough business practice yet available. This Master Thesis examines the developments of Integrated Reporting theory and provides practical insights, based on a survey conducted among South-African listed entities, into how businesses perceive the new reporting concept. The focus of this thesis was to investigate, whether the current theoretical frameworks provide sufficient guidance on Integrated Reporting adoption, whether companies perceive value creation from applying Integrated Reporting principles, what were the main challenges and opportunities faced, and whether the Integrated Reporting should remain voluntary or become a mandatory requirement. In addition a critical analysis of the Integrated Reporting Discussion Paper published in September 2011 is provided.

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1,7, Berlin School of Economics and Law, course: MA Accounting & Controlling, language: English, abstract: It appears that the process towards mandatory Integrated Reporting is inevitable. The businesses need to be prepared to take the first steps towards applying these new reporting principles to remain successful over long term. At the same time many practitioners raise many justified questions, as there is no established Integarted Reporting framework, guidelines or thorough business practice yet available. This Master Thesis examines the developments of Integrated Reporting theory and provides practical insights, based on a survey conducted among South-African listed entities, into how businesses perceive the new reporting concept. The focus of this thesis was to investigate, whether the current theoretical frameworks provide sufficient guidance on Integrated Reporting adoption, whether companies perceive value creation from applying Integrated Reporting principles, what were the main challenges and opportunities faced, and whether the Integrated Reporting should remain voluntary or become a mandatory requirement. In addition a critical analysis of the Integrated Reporting Discussion Paper published in September 2011 is provided.

This book focuses on Integrated Reporting as a contemporary social and managerial innovation where a number of initiatives, organizations and individuals began to converge in response to the need for a consistent, collaborative and internationally accepted approach to redesign corporate reporting. Integrated Reporting is a process that results in communication of the annual “integrated report” which describes value creation over time. An integrated report is a concise communication about how an organization’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium and long term. This book offers a fresh perspective with expert contributions focusing on both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical challenges for the future of corporate reporting.

Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting deals with organizations’ assessment, articulation and disclosure of their social and environmental impact on various groups in society. There is increasingly an understanding that financial information does not sufficiently discharge organizational accountability to members of society who are demanding an account of the social and environmental impacts of companies’ and other organizations’ activities. As a result, organizations report ever more social and environmental information, and there are simultaneous movements towards providing the information in an integrated fashion, showing how social and environmental activities influence each other, members of society and the financial aims of the organization. The book Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting provides a broad and comprehensive review of the field, focusing on the interconnection between different elements of these topics, often dealt with in isolation. The book examines the accounting involved in the collection and analysis of data, control processes over the data, how information is reported to external parties, and the assurance of the information being reported. The book thereby provides an overview useful to practitioners (including sustainability managers, consultants, members of the accounting profession, and other assurance providers), academics, and students.

In a context of growing social and environmental concerns, the role of large enterprises and corporations in encouraging sustainability has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Both academic debates and public-opinion research have called into question the extended responsibilities of firms in our increasingly inter-connected world. By studying issues associated with the greatest challenges mankind is currently facing — from climate change to social exclusion — the scientific community is aware of the need to account for the actions and agendas of companies, especially large ones. They are becoming important global political actors with great power, but also unprecedented responsibilities. With this in mind, the authors believe that it is more important than ever that large enterprises, on the one hand, take into account the opinion of their stakeholder while defining their strategies and, on the other hand, disclose material and relevant information on their ability to contribute to sustainability while delivering value for all of their stakeholders. A consensus is being reached on the responsibility of large enterprises to report in a triple bottom perspective — not only on their financial performances, but also on their social and environmental outcomes. Consequently, it is important to understand what elements organizations need to report on in order to provide stakeholders with relevant and comprehensive sustainability reports. Against this background, this book presents a significant and original contribution, both empirically and theoretically, to the social and environmental accounting literature by studying the various features of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting.

Agriculture, alpine, global change, nutrients, farming