Integrated Reporting in Business Communication： On the Example of Polish Listed Companies

This work focuses on integrated reporting as an element of companies’ communication with the external environment. It shows the place and role of integrated reporting in system of communication with various stakeholders and with investors in particular. It also proposes that integrated reporting is a concise communication tool depicting how an organization’s strategy, governance, performance, and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium, and long term. This means an integrated representation of a company’s performance in terms of financial and other value relevant information. Thus, integrated reporting goes beyond the traditionally understood business financial reporting. The main aim of this paper is to explain the concept of integrated reporting and to identify the role and place of this reporting type in the system of corporate communication. An additional aim is to show the development of integrated reporting in Poland which is a relatively new EU member as well as emerging market. In conclusion, the considerations stated that the report integrated—as a report integrating financial and non-financial content, covering both past and future (which facilitates decision making)—can effectively satisfy the information needs of investors. In Poland, unfortunately, integrated reporting is not widely used. A company which produces integrated reports is based on different standards. This hampers the comparability of these reports and thus reduces their use by stakeholders. In consequence, the information needs of stakeholders are not satisfactorily addressed.