Integrated reporting is a process that results in communication, most visibly a periodic “integrated report”, about value creation over time. It is an evolution of corporate reporting, with a focus on conciseness, strategic relevance, and future orientation. Integrated reporting provides greater context for performance data, clarifies how valuable relevant information fits into operations or a business, and may help make company decision making more long-term.

An integrated report is a concise communication about how an organizations strategy, governance, performance, and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium, and long term. It means the integrated representation of a companys performance in terms of both financial and other value-relevant information. Integrated reporting brings together material information about an organizations strategy, governance, performance, and prospects in a way that reflects the commercial, social, and environmental context within which it operates.

The International Integrated Reporting Framework is a principles-based, multi-capital framework that is used to accelerate the adoption of integrated reporting across the world. It provides a structure that companies can use to tell their story about how they manage their responses to the external environment and create value for shareholders. The framework allows companies to ‘connect’ information about such environmental risks and opportunities and to connect this information with information presented in financial statements.

Integrated reporting is not only about reporting; it encompasses integrated thinking. It is as much about how companies do business and how they create value over the short, medium, and long term as it is about how this value story is reported. There are a multitude of benefits associated with integrated reporting - both within an organization and from an external perspective.

In summary, integrated reporting is a process that results in communication, most visibly a periodic “integrated report”, about value creation over time. It is an evolution of corporate reporting, with a focus on conciseness, strategic relevance, and future orientation. The International Integrated Reporting Framework provides a structure that companies can use to tell their story about how they manage their responses to the external environment and create value for shareholders. Integrated reporting is not only about reporting; it encompasses integrated thinking.