Integrated reporting: Engaging sustainability assurance / Akma Hidayu Dol @ Abdul Wahid

Integrated reporting (IR) is a clear and concise communication about how an organisation’s strategy, governance, performance and prospect lead to a creation of value over the short and the long term. IR helps organisations to think holistically about their strategy and plan in the context of the business impact on the different capital, making better informed decisions and managing key risks taking advantage of opportunities. A substantial number of prior research has documented an increased interest and awareness in sustainable development, in which organisations willingly participate in sustainability activities and disclosure.
The upsurge in the number of integrated reporters has led to the awareness or debate on the need to provide credibility and reliability to sustainability-related information within the integrated reports (Kilic & Kuzey, 2018). Independent sustainability assurance identified as the key mechanism to ensure the credibility and reliability of the integrated reports (IIRC, 2014). The independent sustainability assurance serves as the monitoring mechanism to curtail the opportunistic manoeuvre of the companies’ agents and minimizing the agency conflicts. This monitoring mechanism has been rapidly adopted by institutions and organisations due to the need to monitor sustainability risk and activities (Fraser et al. 2020). Hence, the need for assurance functions should be evolved alongside the integrated reporting practices.