Assessing materiality in sustainability and financial reporting

Name: Assessing materiality in sustainability and financial reporting
Start: 2024-01-01T00:00:00
End: 2024-05-14T00:00:00

Public Engagement

The widening list of stakeholders interested in corporate reporting has led to varying definitions and conceptualisations of what is relevant and significant to readers, known as ‘materiality’. The challenge of assessing materiality to answer the needs of multiple stakeholders is most evident in the increasing importance of sustainability reporting, as a result of the recent publication of various sustainability reporting standards. against this backdrop, the ICAS report explores to what extent and how the two traditionally distinct reporting arenas of sustainability and financial reporting are becoming connected and overlapping, it sheds light on the processes followed and challenges faced by preparers when adopting the different concepts of materiality, it addresses how companies can best identify the relevant material information to be included within financial and sustainability reporting and question whether there is one singular conceptualisation of materiality.

Date of the initiative:

January 1, 2024 - May 14, 2024

Objectives

Although financial stakeholders have traditionally been viewed as the main audience for a company’s annual report and accounts, the sphere of interest in corporate reporting is growing. This means that the relevance of the information within these reports now must be assessed based on an expanding list of stakeholders with diverse interests, perspectives and needs. ICAS publishes research into the different assessments of materiality within the sustainability and financial reporting arenas.