Three accounting bodies are offering a £50,000 award for research proposals looking at ways to develop Integrated Reporting (IR) further, following the introduction of the IR Framework in December 2013.
The research brief has been issued by ACCA, the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER) and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), with the aim of stimulating fresh thinking into issues at the heart of the future development of IR.
The organisations want the research proposals to focus on three areas. The first is meeting users' information needs, by examining what users of integrated reports from large private sector, for-profit companies, want to see. This project would focus on the similarities and differences between the needs and expectations of different equity and debt holders, and others who provide financial capital.
The second area of research interest concerns materiality and completeness as opposed to conciseness in IR. This work would focus on the theoretical, policy and practical issues concerning the role of materiality in determining the balance between completeness and conciseness in an integrated report.
The final area of interest is research on organisational characteristics and IR, focusing on the theoretical, policy and practical issues concerning application of the Framework to different types of organisations in different jurisdictions and under different circumstances.
Ewan Willars, ACCA's director of policy, said: 'IR is still in its infancy, so it needs to keep evolving to keep it fresh and in tune with the ever-changing business environment. We hope researchers take advantage of the grants we have to offer to support the further development of this important global initiative.'
A combined sum of up to £50,000 will be awarded for up to three projects that meet the criteria set. The deadline for research proposal submissions is 28 February 2014. Submissions, and any questions about the programme, must be emailed to [email protected]
Information on the Call for research proposals: Integrated Reporting is available here: HERE
