The points below provide some possible topics ideas for future research on integrated reporting and integrated thinking in South Africa.
Please do let us know if you will be addressing a topic from the list below and the expected completion date.
- Assessments of how S1 aligns with or undermines principles/recommended practices per the IIRC, GRI and leading academic work on different forms of environmental, social and sustainability accounting and reporting;
- The challenges encountered or expected to be encountered by organisations adopting S1 and S2 and how these may be overcome;
- The extent to which interoperability between the ISSB’s standards and those issued by other bodies (such as the EU) could be achieved in practice keeping in mind the existing variations in sustainability reporting guidelines and requirements in different jurisdictions;
- Critical reflections on the conceptual approach taken by the ISSB when developing S1 including the Board’s use of the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting and earlier work on management commentary;
- The advantages and disadvantages of the ISSB’s approach to framing sustainability-related reporting as part of an economic discourse including its approach to materiality determination;
- How the notion of “impact” and “financial materiality” have informed standard-setters and the implications for theory and practice;
- Technical and conceptual analyses of the differences between “financial” or “ economic impact” materiality and “double materiality” including the implications for preparers, users and regulators;
- Methods for incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into management systems, internal controls, valuations, key performance indicators and risk appraisals;
- The challenges of collecting credible and complete data for compiling sustainability reports under S1 and S2 with recommendations for addressing existing limitations including, for example, the application of data management techniques, refined internal control systems and the use of artificial intelligence;
- How academic research on issues like biodiversity reporting, extinction accounting and ecological accounting can be incorporated practically into sustainability reports prepared under S1 and S2 and/or be adapted by the ISSB when it develops further standards.
- What is the association between implementation of integrated thinking and ‘business success’ or ‘improved firm value’?
- How is integrated reporting best communicated? (e.g. the use of visuals and interactive web formats).
- How can organizations operationalize integrated thinking?
- How can integrated reporting principles be used to achieve the SDGs?
- Over ten years of integrated reporting: what has been achieved; what have been the lasting effects?
- Communicating outcomes using the new sustainability exposure drafts/ standards.
- Outcomes and organisational cash flow: do all outcomes/ impacts on society and the environment affect cash flow at some stage (short, medium or long term)?
- What is the effect of disclosure of strategy, business model, and outlook on market competitiveness and other measures of a successful business?
- Long-term versus short-term considerations in reporting and corporate decision-making processes.
- How integrated reporting can contribute to a globally accepted comprehensive corporate reporting system.
- Materiality as a many and varied concept.
- How organisations have embedded integrated thinking.
- Stakeholder-inclusive reporting vs investor-focused models – does taking a specific slant really make a difference?
- The relevance of outcomes-based governance for the successful application of integrated thinking.
- ESG and Integrated reporting assurance
Contribute to suggestions for research topics
If you would like to add a suggestion for potential research topics, please send it to admin@integratedreportingsa.org