in cooperation with the Center for Corporate Reporting
Digital Reporting
Study
Partnership
In general, the perception of the company in public is gaining importance. Particularly target groups such as (potential) employees and business partners are increasingly being recognized as important. Whereby, the above-mentioned target groups are showing a heightened interest in ESG reporting. Target groups such as voting-rights advisor and analysts on the other hand are however being weighted as less important.
How do you reach different target groups? To reach the most people, MDD suggests publishing corporate reports in the best fitting format. Read more about it in key finding # 4: Format logics.
Not surprising, however still worth mentioning: The technological requirements and challenges are constantly increasing. Digitalization and automatization are the driving forces and are of highest priority. Additionally new regulatory requirements regarding ESG and sustainability are creating changes in the regulatory world.
The framework for sustainability reports is still the GRI. However, frameworks such as SDG, SASB, TCFD are increasingly being used. Fact is, this does not make the decision on which framework to apply any easier. It should also be fundamentally elaborated on. Even though the standardization moving along slowly in this field, one thing remains true: clear, comparable sustainability reports are crucial.
In 2021 the PDF first approach increased at the expense of the online first approach. We assume that there were other priorities this year and therefore the willingness to start an online first approach was rather small. We still believe that the PDF approach will stay around, but that the online report will become the leading published medium in the long run. Due to the current shortage of resources the print first approach may fall behind even more in the next few years.
(Graph source: CCR)
Don’t overthink these three approaches. Choose a digital process and publish your reports on multiple channels. With the multi-channel approach on the MDD platform the question regarding which leading format to choose becomes redundant. You can flexibly decide which output option(s) is/are most fitting. This brings us back to key finding #1 – target group-oriented reporting.
The results of the Corporate Reporting monitor are not surprising to us and confirm the situation clearly: digitalization and sustainability are the hot topics that are moving the corporate reporting world. ESG reporting is vital for the corporate image, online reports are part of an even format-mix and digital processes are indispensable in regard to publication efficiency. The tracks are laid, now the only questions is, how fast the train-of-change will charge through.
With the Corporate Reporting Monitor, the Center for Corporate Reporting (CCR) launched the first recurring international study around corporate reporting in 2019.
The study is designed as a compass for strategic developments, trends and benchmarking. It is produced in cooperation with the Center for Research in Financial Communication at the University of Leipzig and the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten.
As a study partner, we publish the following key findings and assessments exclusively. We would like to thank CCR for their cooperation and trend assessments.
Your contact for questions about online reporting
Fabio Negro
COO
