Research Directions on Integrated Reporting in Poland: Current State and Perspectives

Abstract

The development of the reporting methods – including non-financial – has caused a number of initiatives to try to integrate them. The idea of integrated reporting focuses on combining financial and non-financial information toward generating a holistic representation of a given reporting unit. Said integration adopts the form of expanded reporting in order to present, familiarize and understand the comprehensive process in creating value in a given enterprise. As a result of the relatively short period of its application in Poland, the concept of integrated reporting continues to evolve. A wider range of examination is to be found abroad since the concept has been applied somewhat earlier. Also in Poland, certain directions of research and their evolution can be observed. In addition to using the experience of foreign researchers, it is also important to consider regional (national) aspects. The presented article is the result of exploration of research areas on integrated reporting in Poland. The objective is a meta-analysis of domestic studies pertaining to integrated reporting, systemizing them and indicating inferred directions of further study. The authors profess the thesis that domestic study is in its initial stage and the evolving direction(s) will also pursue quantitative surveys. The results of this present effort has the quality of a systematic review which determines the use of research method in the form of meta-analysis of primarily domestic literature and legal acts, deduction and inference. The result of the study concludes that further study of integrated reporting in Poland will require deepen research on the development of standards in integrated reporting in order to increase their reliability. In addition, it is necessary to direct research procedures on quantitative data, as well as methods of surveys, which will allow to formulate conclusions with limited subjectivity, as well as strongly embedded in business practice.