Integrated Reporting and Value Creation: the Semantics of the Fundamental Concept of Integrated Reporting

Marçal, Amanda dos Santos Veiga; Neumann, Marguit; Sanches, Simone Letícia Raimundini

doi:10.1590/1984-92302022v29n0021EN

person Amanda dos Santos Veiga Marçal

schoolState University of Maringá, Maringá, Brazil

0000-0001-6728-7884

person Marguit Neumann

schoolState University of Maringá, Maringá, Brazil

0000-0003-1246-3769

person Simone Letícia Raimundini Sanches

schoolState University of Maringá, Maringá, Brazil

0000-0002-7363-2573

Associate editor: Letícia Dias Fantinel

Authorship

Amanda dos Santos Veiga Marçal

Master’s degree in Accounting Sciences awarded by State Univerity of Maringá (UEM). Advisor of the MBA ESALQ/USP – Tax Management course. The author researches and publishes on Integrated Reporting, Sustainability, Accounting, Tax Management, Accountant. E-mail: mandy_veiga@hotmail.com

Marguit Neumann

Doctoral degree in Economics awarded by Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and in Sciences Économiques awarded by the Université Pierre Mendès France (UPMF). Professor of the Graduate Program in Accounting Sciences at the State University of Maringá (UEM). Integrated Reporting Research Group. The author researches and publishes on Corporate Social Responsibility, Social and Environmental Accounting (Environmental Education, Integrated Reporting, Sustainability Reports). E-mail: marguitn26@gmail.com

Simone Letícia Raimundini Sanches

Doctoral degree in Administration awareded by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Professor of the Graduate Program in Accounting Sciences at the State University of Maringá (UEM). E-mail: slraimundini@uem.br

Conflict of interests

The authors have stated that there is no conflict of interest.

Authors’ contribution

First author: conceptualization (lead), data curation (lead), formal analysis (lead), investigation (lead), methodology (equal), project administration (equal), validation (equal), visualization (equal), writing – original draft (lead), writing-review & editing (lead).

Second author: conceptualization (equal), data curation (supporting), formal analysis (supporting), investigation (supporting), methodology (equal), project administration (supporting), supervision (lead), validation (equal), visualization (equal), writing – original draft (equal), writing-review & editing (equal).

Third author: formal analysis (supporting), methodology (supporting), supervision (supporting), validation (supporting), visualization (supporting), writing – original draft (supporting).

Figures (3)
Tables (9)

Thumbnail

Figure 1 Framework 1.0 value creation process

Thumbnail

Figure 2 Capitals proposed by Framework 1.0

Thumbnail

Figure 3 Framework 1.0 adjusted value creation process

Thumbnail

Table 1 Value Creation – Background Paper

Thumbnail

Table 2 Collection of ‘Integrated Reporting’ and ‘Value Creation’ sample

Thumbnail

Table 3 Selection of ‘Integrated Reporting’ and ‘Value Creation’ sample

Thumbnail

Table 4 Analysis of content carried out in three stages

Thumbnail

Table 5 Determination of the codification

Thumbnail

Table 6 Semantics: source of oppositions, relationships and implicit meanings

Thumbnail

Table 7 Results of the meanings of value creation for the literature ‘integrated reporting’ and ‘value creation’

Thumbnail

Table 8 Summary of the analysis of research results in Table 7

Thumbnail

TITLE BASIS YEAR SEMANTICS Redefining Corporate Accountability Through CAPES 2013 N Leading Practices in Integrated Reporting CAPES 2014 N Value Creation Reporting: Answering the Question „Value to Whom” according to the International Integrated Reporting Framework CAPES 2017 Y Bankers’ perspectives on Integrated Reporting for value creation: evidence from Nigeria CAPES 2017 N Integrated Reporting: Communicating Value Creation CAPES 2018 N Towards Integrated Reporting in Europe - An analysis of 40 annual corporate reports regarding their value creation disclosures CAPES 2018 N Visualizing and managing value creation through integrated reporting practices: a dynamic resource‑based perspective CAPES 2019 N インタンジブルズに基づく企業の価値創造一BSC ，知的資本報告書，統合報告の論点比較一 CAPES - ITEM A HARUSKAH VALUE CREATION HANYA TERDAPAT PADA INTEGRATED REPORTING? CAPES - ITEM A 統合報告書に基づく価値創造プロセスの比較研究 CAPES - ITEM A NO ACCESS CAPES - ITEM A NO ACCESS CAPES - ITEM A Managing material value creation matters in integrated reporting EMERALD 2021 S Value creation disclosure: the international integrated reporting framework revisited in the light of stakeholder theory EMERALD 2021 Y NO ACCESS SCIELO - ITEM A Bankers’ perspectives on Integrated Reporting for value creation: evidence from Nigeria SCIELO 2017 X Approaching Value Creation From An Integrated Reporting Perspective SCIELO 2018 Y Visualizing and managing value creation through integrated reporting practices: a dynamic resource‑based perspective SCIELO 2019 X Value creation disclosure: the international integrated reporting framework revisited in the light of stakeholder theory SCIELO 2021 X Managing material value creation matters in integrated reporting SCIELO 2021 X Value creation and business models: Refocusing the intellectual capital debate SCI.DIR 2013 Y The International Integrated Reporting Council: A call to action SCI.DIR 2015 Y Exploring the implications of integrated reporting for social investment (disclosures) SCI.DIR 2016 N Reporting on long-term value creation by Canadian companies: A longitudinal assessment SCI.DIR 2018 N Intellectual capital disclosure in integrated reports: The effect on firm value SCI.DIR 2020 N Materiality in an integrated reporting setting: Insights using an institutional logics framework SCI.DIR 2020 N Accounting for the value expectations of customers: Re-imagining the Integrated Reporting initiative SCI.DIR 2020 Y The relationship between corporate social responsibility expenditures and firm value: The moderating role of integrated reporting SCI.DIR 2021 N Value creation and business models: Refocusing the intellectual capital debate SCOPUS 2013 X Integrated reporting as a mechanism of increasing business value SCOPUS 2014 Y Integrated reporting and assurance: where can research add value? SCOPUS 2015 Y Marketing communications of value creation in sustainable organizations. The practice of integrated reports SCOPUS 2015 Y ‘Representing' value creation: A combined approach of system dynamics and integrated reporting for the airline sector SCOPUS 2016 Y Exploring the implications of integrated reporting on organisational reporting practice Evidence from highly regarded integrated reporters SCOPUS 2016 N Conceptualising the contemporary corporate value creation process SCOPUS 2017 Y Integrated or non-integrated reports: French listed companies at a crossroads? SCOPUS 2018 N Reporting on long-term value creation by Canadian companies: A longitudinal assessment SCOPUS 2018 X Determinants of Companies that Disclose High-Quality Integrated Reports SCOPUS 2019 N Are SMEs Ready for Integrated Reporting? The Malaysian Experience of Accountability SCOPUS 2019 N Visualizing and managing value creation through integrated reporting practices: a dynamic resource‑based perspective SCOPUS 2019 Y IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED REPORTING: A CROSS-COUNTRIES’ STUDY* SCOPUS 2020 N Investigating the interplays between integrated reporting practices and circular economy disclosure SCOPUS 2020 N Does Corporate Governance Affect the Quality of Integrated Reporting? SCOPUS 2020 N Integrated thinking, orchestration of the six capitals and value creation SCOPUS 2020 N Ethics disclosure as strategy: a longitudinal case study SCOPUS 2020 Y Value creation disclosure: the international integrated reporting framework revisited in the light of stakeholder theory SCOPUS 2021 X The Human Capital for Value Creation and Social Impact: The Interpretation of the IR’s HC Definition SCOPUS 2021 Y Integrated Reporting Implementation and Core Activities Disclosure in UK Higher Education Institutions SCOPUS 2021 N Balancing quantitative and qualitative value-creation reporting SCOPUS 2021 Y NO ACCESS SCOPUS 2021 ITEM A Managing material value creation matters in integrated reporting SCOPUS 2021 X Integrated thinking, earnings manipulation and value creation: Malaysian empirical evidence SCOPUS 2021 N Accounting for the value expectations of customers: Re-imagining the Integrated Reporting initiative SCOPUS 2021 X The relationship between corporate social responsibility expenditures and firm value: The moderating role of integrated reporting SCOPUS 2021 X NO ACCESS SCOPUS - ITEM A NO ACCESS SCOPUS - ITEM A Conceptualizing and enabling circular economy through integrated thinking SCOPUS 2021 N Does integrated reporting information influence internal decision making? An experimental study of investment behavior SCOPUS 2018 N Does integrated reporting information influence internal decision making? An experimental study of investment behavior WILEY 2018 X Conceptualizing and enabling circular economy through integrated thinking WILEY 2021 X LEGEND: Y - Yes, there is semantics N - There is no semantics X - Article duplicity ITEM A – Table 3 – Articles with no access/language

Synthesis	Context	Category
1. The value creation occurs within a context	Value is created from a set of interactions, activities, relationships, causes and effects, which occur within the context of the regulatory, societal and natural market in which the organization operates. It considers society’s expectations about what the company’s value creation symbolizes.	Market
		Regulatory
		Societal
		Natural
2. Financial value is relevant, but not sufficient, for assessing value creation	It is created through the utility in satisfying human needs, whose assessment is linked to three items: functional utility (what the product/service does), economic utility (how much it costs), and emotional utility (how it makes the customer feel).	Functional utility
		Economic utility
		Emotional utility
3. Value is created from tangible and intangible assets	In addition to tangible assets, intangible assets also contribute to value creation, and are increasingly in evidence.	Tangible and intangible assets
4. Value is created from private and public resources	In some cases, common global, natural or social resources are used in a company’s business model, and transformed into products or results. Thus, transparency, information, and common language are needed.	Natural Resources
4. Value is created from private and public resources		Social Resources
5. Value is created for an organization and for others	In IR, value should be addressed to a wide range of stakeholders, as an organization’s value is created and captured by a wide range of stakeholders.	Organization
5. Value is created for an organization and for others		Stakeholders
6. Value is created from the connectivity between a wide range of factors	Value assessment is based on a vector composed of qualitative, ethical, social, and practical factors, the way they relate to each other and present results to various stakeholders.	Qualitative
		Ethical
		Social
		Practical
7. Value creation manifests itself in outcomes	The connections and interdependencies between different factors collaborate to value creation, as it achieves different results for different stakeholders, since the activities can affect a company’ future potential.	Connections
7. Value creation manifests itself in outcomes		Interdependences
8. Innovation is fundamental to value creation	A company’s value is created/maximized with the help of innovation, enabling organizations to recognize their strategic sources and devise mechanisms to create a lasting or sustainable force.	Innovations
9. Values play a role in 'how' and 'what type' of value is created	The existence or absence of values is sometimes expressed in codes of business conduct, and can play a role in determining the extent to which an organization creates and protects value.	Codes of conduct
10. Measures of value creation are evolving	Measures of value, such as economic value added, Balanced Scorecard, company value, total contribution, have being used as a way of expressing value creation.	Measures of value

Bases accessed	Terms	Quantity of articles*
Period of collection		April/2018	April/2020	December/2021
CAPES		12	12	7
Emerald Insight	Integrated Reporting	0	0	2
Jstor (Social Sciences)		0	0	0
Scielo (Web of Science)	Value Creation	3	3	6
Scienc Direct	Value Creation	5	5	8
Scopus		9	15	30
Wiley		1	1	2

	CAPES	Emerald	Jstor	SciELO	ScienceD.	Scopus	Wiley	Total
Articles found	12	2	0	6	8	30	2	60
(-) Total articles excluded	(11)	-	-	(5)	(5)	(21)	(2)	(44)
a) (-) Articles with no access/language	(5)	-	-	(1)	-	(3)	-	(9)
b) (-) Duplicate articles	-	-	-	(4)	-	(6)	(2)	(12)
c) (-) Not related to the concept of value creation	(6)	-	-	-	(5)	(12)	-	(23)
Research sample	1	2	0	1	3	9	0	16

Authorship	Concept	Framework	Value creation understanding	Semantics
1 - Bowman e Ambrosini (2003) Article mentioned by “Value Creation – Background Paper”	The fixed assets of the firm like buildings and machinery are enduring inert use values. Once a firm is a going concern additional forms of capital can be created .	MC IC	3	5
2 - Crowther and Aras (2008) Book mentioned by “Value Creation – Background Paper”	They comprise all Activities of Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR . They are the following: Sustainability, Accountability and Transparency.	EE SRC NC	4	2 and 5
3 - Mckinsey & Company (2010) Book mentioned by “Value Creation – Background Paper”	Terms ‘value’ and ‘value creation.’ In its purest form, value is the sum of the present values of future expected cash flows - a point-in-time measure . Value creation is the change in value due to company performance .	FC NE	5	5
4 - Institute for Family Business (2012) Document mentioned by “Value Creation – Background Paper”	Sustainability deals with long-term issues that often have no financial counterpart , but which can have a material impact on the ability of an organisation to create long-term valu e.	EE SRC NC	1 and 4	4
5 - Beattie and Smith (2013) Article	Intellectual capital is bundled up in the processes and resources that are capabilities and competences that can (especially if difficult to imitate ) generate competitive advantage and hence create value.	IC	3	3
6 - Kuzina (2014) Article	IR core idea is that company value is not created alone and value can vary over time, influenced by external factors, environment, stakeholder relationships, and interdependent on access to diverse resources. Therefore, IR should focus on: 1- external environment that affects a company; 2- resources and relationships used and affected by a company; 3 - how the company interacts with the external environment and capitals to create value in the short, medium and long term.	EE FC MC IC HC SRC NC	1 to 9	2
7 – Dumitru et al. (2015) Article	The value added (VA) offers information and reflect the connections between the financial capital (dividends’ distribution, interests registered), human capital (salaries and other benefits), social capital (taxes, donations, sponsorships) and the manufactured capital (goods purchased, the depreciation)	FC MC HC SRC	10	4
8 - Adams (2015) Article	The meaning attributed to “value” and value to whom is critical in shifting the extent to which business, society and the environment co-exist in a mutually beneficial way .	NE	5	1
9 - Haller (2016) Book	Stakeholder theory presents a limited perspective, which does not clearly include the environment . However, the concept of value of the IIRC is linked to the concept of “shared value” by Porter and Kramer (2011; 2013), which supports shareholder value that includes social impacts as drivers of the value parameters. Including environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) aspects in management strategies and decisions, leads to higher shareholder return and, and is therefore rational and profitable from a shareholder perspective thus benefiting both sides (shareholder and company).	NE	5	3
9 - Haller (2016) Book	The Framework doesn’t even refer to specific approaches that have already been developed to measure particular capitals individually or in bundles together . Like i) Working Group “Accounting and Reporting of Intangibles” of the Schmalenbach Association for Business Administration; ii) The Natural Capital Coalition (Natural Capital Protocol); iii) The Carbon Disclosure Project (Carbon Disclosure Project); iv) KPMG - True Value; v) New Economics Foundation - Social Return on Investment; vi) World Business Council of Sustainable Development - Redefining Value; vii) EFFAS/DVFA (ESG KPIs); viii) Global Reporting Initiative (G4Guidelines).	EE FC MC IC HC SRC NC	10	4
10 - Barnabè (2016) Article	System dynamics (SD) is a support to integrated reporting (<IR>) for a more transparent representation of value creation processes as well as strategy design and implementation, improving the understanding of past, present and future paths of value creation, qualitative maps and formal simulation models.	FC MC IC HC SRC NC	10	4
11 - Adams (2017) Article	Aimed at examining and explaining the complex interrelationships which influence the ability of firms to create value for their providers of finance and other stakeholders, referred to in practice as “integrated thinking.” This work concluded that the link between ESG risk, reputational damage and delivering on strategy is related to i) increasing investor demand for information on ESG risks; ii) the importance of board involvement in integrating environmental and social sustainability into corporate practices; iii) increasing regulatory and stock exchange requirements to disclose both ESG risks and strategy; iv) global discussions on the role of corporate reporting in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.	EE FC SRC NC	1, 4 and 6	4
12 - Gokten and Gokten (2017) Article	Profit is the result of creating value in the short term; the medium-term value would be the fair value expected by investors for equity; and long-term value is the value represented to society .	NE	5	3
13- Sofian (2018) Article	The term ‘value’ was defined as a benefit that someone has from something, but value cannot be created without someone to access it. We live in a society where everything is connected: business with people, business with environment, business with society, society with environment. We all depend on each other. Hence, companies should try to consider as many interests as possible of its stakeholders , no matter through which instrument or method they are calculating the amount of the so-called “value” created.	NE	5 and 7	2
13- Sofian (2018) Article	Analysis of the various instruments used to explain value creation (Kering’s Environmental Profit & Loss Statement, KPMG’s True Value Methodology, Value Added Statement, Natural Capital Protocol) demonstrates that they are in line with the IR concept of value. The results show that KPMG’s True Value Methodology and Value Added Statement are more appropriate to the IR’s concept of value creation. However, none of the instruments is considered fully consistent with the Framework 1.0 .	FC MC IC HC SRC NC EE	10	4
14 - Barnabè, Giorgino and Kunc (2019) Article	The authors proposed the Dynamic Resource-Based View (DRBV) based on the common idea that strategic resources are interconnected and have to be managed with the collaboration of all stakeholders in order to inform governance actions and create value with a holistic perspective.	FC MC IC HC SRC NC	10	4
15- Roslender and Nielsen (2020) Article	The general failure of research on the IR approach to devote much attention to both the value creation process and the business model concept has had the consequence of overlooking the importance of customers and customer value expectations . This observation applies both to those researchers who are principally interested in the technicalities of IR and those who continue to lament the downgrading of a sustainability focus.	SRC	2	5
16- Kumarasinghe, Peiris, and Everett (2021) Article	The company analyzed maintains ethical strategies, policies and behaviours with respect to its prominent stakeholders, and strategically discloses those practices, enabling it to establish and sustain competitive advantage over its competitors .	SRC	6	2
17- Steenkamp and Roberts (2021) Article	Results show that one of the companies analyzed uses a performance scorecard , and obtains audit assurance on key information regarding sustainability related to its value creation, which consequently validates whether this information is material and reliable.	FC MC IC HC SRC NC	10	4
18- Dameri and Ferrando (2021) Article	The future of an organization depends on its ability to create value by carrying out an economically, socially and ethically useful function , starting with a clear identification of its purpose and value proposition, which involves satisfying the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders bringing the organization resources, skills and legitimacy , but to do so, the organization has to generate resources enough to feed these responses ; in other words, there has to be a balance between the value shareholders and stakeholders create and receive .	FC MC IC HC SRC NC NE	4, 5 and 6	2
19- Crous and Van (2021) Article	Results found that value-creation disclosures are mostly concerned with quantitative value creation, and that they focus on value concepts, such as returns to investors, cash flow, increase in employee numbers, and benefits to employees. However, the companies’ reports still do not include concrete statements or definitions about what value creation is considered to be; neither do they disclose qualitative value-creation concepts .	IC HC SRC NC NE	6	3
20- Cisi and Centrone (2021) Article	IR definition of Human Capital is able to define a link between human capital, value creation, and social impact . It is not only based on people’s competencies, capabilities and experience . It is focused on motivation to innovate and on an explicit focus on ethical values, loyalty, and motivation .	HC SRC	6 and 8	4

Value creation	Repetitions	Value creation understanding	Repetitions	Semantics:	Repetitions
Financial (FC)	10	1	3	Paraphrase (1)	1
Manufactured (MC)	9	2	1	Synonymy (2)	5
Human (HC)	10	3	2	Antonymy (3)	4
Intellectual (IC)	10	4	4	Hyponymy (4)	9
Social and Rel. SRC	15	5	6	Duplicity (5)	4
Natural (NC)	11	6	5
Net Effect (NE)	7	7	1
External environment (EE)	6	8	1
		9	1
		10	6

[TFN1] * Period of research development, maturation and updating.

[TFN2] Note: There is a difference in the number of findings due to the renewal or not of content indexed on the CAPES system (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) accessed by the Federated Academic Community (CAFe).

[3] Source: Elaborated by authors.

1^st Pre-analysis	Floating reading, which was the first contact with articles and documents in data collection; Choice of documents, when the corpus of analysis was defined; Formulation of the research objective; Preparation of the material, aiming at alignment with the language (PT-BR); Organization of indices and elaboration of indicators, when the text was divided into comparable units (categorization), and data recording (coding) was determined.
2^nd Exploration of the Material	It was addressed in the systemic administration of the decisions taken.
3^rd Treatment of the results obtained (inference and interpretation)	The analysis was conducted manually, since, according to Bardin (2016) , it is feasible to use software when performing a large analysis or counting words. The interpretation and inference was carried out based on the literature review, Framework Integrated Reporting and “Value Creation – Background paper” (IIRC, 2013a).

Choice of units (recording and context unit)	The semantics units (themes) were chosen as registration units and the context unit was limited to one paragraph.
Classification and aggregation (categorization)	Semantics was used (thematic categories).

Semantics:	1. Paraphrase	- Words have the same meaning (synonyms) and syntactic constructions are preserved.
	2. Synonymy	- For two words to be synonymous, it is not enough that they have the same extension (another way can say the same thing); - For words to be synonymous, they have to make, in all their uses, the same contribution to the meaning of the sentence; - Two words are synonymous whenever they can be substituted in the context of the sentence, without the sentence changing from false to true, or vice versa.
	3. Antonymy	- Two sentences have meanings that are incompatible with the same situation; - Two opposing expressions rarely are in equality at the moment; - There is no combination of contradictory information that does not resist a motivated effort at interpretation.
	4. Hyponymy	- Meaning relations between set pairs (which occur between expressions with a more specific meaning and generic expressions).
	5. Duplicity of meaning	- They share the quality of being ambiguous, that is, of admitting alternative interpretations.

Integrated Reporting and Value Creation: the Semantics of the Fundamental Concept of Integrated Reporting

Abstract